


A Thief's Tale

by corruptedkid (orphan_account)



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Car Accidents, Car Chases, Crime Fighting, F/F, Organized Crime, Plot Twists, Scourge Sisters, Scourgecest, kleptomaniac!Vriska, vigilantes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-24
Updated: 2016-06-06
Packaged: 2018-06-04 03:11:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 36,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6638890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/corruptedkid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vriska Serket lived her life in simple definitions. No matter how hard people tried to preach a grey area between black and white, she knew that most things boiled down to a single principal. She was a kleptomaniac, that girl over there with the cane was disabled, the "City of Light" was a utopia, etcetera.</p><p>But as her world collided with that of Terezi Pyrope, she began to see the facets beyond the definitions. She began to see the stories.</p><p>She began to see the shadows within her world of light.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. An Unexpected Outcome

That goddamn dragon plushie.

Vriska ground her teeth as she eyed it, swinging from the girl’s hand. Its red button eyes stared enticingly at her, feigning ignorance to the situation it was in.

The girl had a cane in the other hand. She smacked it back and forth as she walked, not seeming to care if she hit someone in the shins. Vriska couldn’t see her face, but if she could, she was willing to bet she’d come across a pair of blank and unseeing eyes. She was obviously blind.

And yet, as impulse disorders do not come with moral restrictions, Vriska’s kleptomania was telling her _you steal that dragon doll right fucking now._

Vriska strolled along about ten feet behind the girl. She would have to wait until they were in a less populated area. If someone saw her stealing, they’d call the mall cops, and it would be game over. No, she would be subtle. She would follow this girl until she was somewhere inconspicuous, the dragon would leave her hands, and Vriska would hightail it out of that mall like it was on fire.

The girl sure was taking her sweet time finding a store to duck into. She looked back and forth across the way at all the different store, but couldn’t seem to pick one.

_Probably because she can’t see them, dumbass._

Oh. Right. Jeez, it sure was easy to forget that blind people were blind!

Vriska wondered how she was even getting around without anyone to guide her. She had distinctly seen the girl walk out of Hot Topic with a bag full of merch, but how had she known which store to go into? 

And there she went, picking another. She headed into H&M with no hesitation, and seemed to know exactly where she was. Either this chick spent entirely too much time in the mall, or she had superpowers.

Vriska followed her in.

A quick glance towards the ceiling told her where all the security cameras were. There was one in the back right corner, one in the left. A mirror to make up for a half-wall that filled the store. A mirror disguised as a decoration on the other side.

Vriska quickly went to work calculating blind spots. If that mirror was set at that angle, the shelves were arranged like so, and if that camera rotated… 

Gotcha. If she stood in exactly the right spot along the half-wall, the cameras wouldn’t see a thing.

The blind girl was making her way around the store, dragging her hands along the aisles and occasionally knocking clothes off their racks. She didn’t stop to pick any of them up. Vriska sidled along behind her, taking care step lightly. Blind people could hear like bats, right? She didn’t know if that was true, but she kept her motions quiet anyway. 

She was slowly approaching where she needed to be. The familiar itchy feeling began to burn in Vriska’s fingertips. She felt guilty for taking what she didn’t need, from a disabled girl at that, but she knew she wouldn’t care once that dragon was in her hands. Stealing brought such relief. 

Three more steps… Two more steps… The girl stopped to examine a shirt hanging from a rack, and Vriska nearly tore a chunk of her own hair out. 

The girl ran her hands over the fabric, caressing every stitch and seam, and then she… sniffed it?

Vriska outright stared as the girl held the shirt up to her face and took a gigantic whiff. Well, now she’d seen everything. 

The girl clumsily hung the shirt back up. It looked like it would fall from its hanger with the slightest breeze. One more step… And… There! Vriska darted forward and sunk her fingers into the plush doll, snatching it away and stuffing it into her purse. The girl whipped around, but Vriska was already walking casually away.

Behind Vriska’s back, the girl cackled. She froze. Oh, God, if the girl started having a hysteric episode the mall cops would come for sure. What if the dragon doll was some kind of precious heirloom? 

But the grating laughter subsided. Vriska relaxed and kept walking, only to freeze again as the girl addressed her.

“You think you’re sneaky, Serket.”

Oh fuck.

Vriska slowly rotated on the spot. The girl was staring her down and grinning, her eyes covered by a shiny pair of red glasses. 

“How do you know my name.”

“I’ll tell you if you give it back.” The girl extended her hand, her grin unchanged. Vriska tossed the plushie to her, and she caught it easily. 

Vriska would run, but to do so would arouse suspicion. Instead, she repeated: “How do you know my name?”

The girl stuffed the dragon underneath her arm. “Let’s take this somewhere more private.” And without waiting for a response, she turned and headed out the door. Vriska ran to catch up with her.

“Hey, what gives?” she said angrily. “Just tell me what’s up. I don’t wanna get dragged into some kind of guilt trip for trying to steal from you. I just want to know this, plain and simple; where the fuck did you get my name.”

“I admire your bluntness,” the girl replied. “But I’m going to have to ask you to come with me.”

“Where are we going?”

The girl pointed. “To Starbucks.” Sure enough, a few stores down, the cafe awaited them. Vriska furrowed her brow.

“How did you know where it was?”

The girl cackled again, and Vriska winced. The sound was a little too loud for her tastes.

“Oh, you’re one of _those_ types. Just because I’m blind doesn’t mean I don’t know where Starbucks is, doofus.”

That… did not answer Vriska’s question at all. But she could tell she would not get an answer by asking again.

They headed into the store, the girl inhaling deeply through her nose. Vriska was beginning to suspect she must have a nose fetish of some kind. They headed to the counter, which was blessedly lacking a large queue, and the girl deliberated a bit before ordering a strawberry smoothie. Vriska pointedly did not wonder as to how she could read the menu as she ordered an iced coffee. 

“Hope you’ve got cash,” the blind girl said brightly to Vriska. 

Vriska’s jaw dropped. “Are you seriously making me buy you Starbucks?”

“Not me,” the girl corrected. “I am forcing you to buy _both_ of us Starbucks. And don’t think I’m stopping at that.” She grabbed her drink from the counter and stuck a straw into its top, slurping loudly as she made her way to a table. Vriska was left to dig out her wallet and hand over the money. 

She sat down hard at the table. The white noise of the cafe was perfect to hold a private conversation. “All right,” she snapped. “You’d better tell me what’s up, or I’ll… I’ll…” Goddamn it, she couldn’t threaten a blind girl. Even if said girl _was_ smiling like a smug piranha.

“I’ve been keeping tabs on you for a while,” the girl said casually, taking a sip of her smoothie. “You steal quite a lot. Not enough for the police to notice, don’t worry, just me. But if you were smart you’d know which of those is worse.”

Vriska snatched the smoothie away from her. “Hold up. You’ve been keeping _tabs_ on me? Which one of us is breaking the law here?”

The girl reached for her smoothie, and when Vriska would not return it, she frowned. “You, obviously. Vriska Serket. You’ve stolen over a thousand dollars worth of merchandise in the past year. You don’t use any of it, and a few days later it shows up on Craigslist. You’ve got some serious kleptomania going on, but you don’t seek treatment, you just steal and steal and steal, even from the disabled.” 

Vriska bristled. “Okay, I’m not going to ask how you knew any of that, but I _am_ going to tell you to back the fuck off.”

“Why should I? You’re a criminal. Even with your diagnosable disorder, you’ll still end up with some hefty jail time if I turn you in.”

Vriska shoved the smoothie back at her. “So why haven’t you turned me in yet? What do you want from me?”

The girl smiled. “You’ve finally caught on.”

Vriska rolled her eyes. “Yeah. So. What do you _want._ ”

“Jeez, I’m telling you!” the girl huffed. She sat back in her chair. “I _want_ you to help me with something.”

“Be more cryptic.”

The girl snickered. “Ooh, I like you. I want you to help me track down a criminal.”

Vriska didn’t know what she had been expecting, but it sure wasn’t that. “Wait, what?”

“Are you deaf or just stupid? I said I want you to help me track down a criminal. Four people have disappeared in the past month, the police aren’t putting things together, and you’re one of the most criminally intelligent people I’ve ever seen.”

“Okay, but that comment would probably mean a lot more if you weren’t blind.”

The girl threw her head back and shrieked with laughter. Vriska made a face. This girl got more and more annoying every time she showed amusement. 

“What I mean is, you manipulate extremely well,” the girl said, once her giggles had subsided. “You can memorize and calculate store layouts in the blink of an eye, and you make good connections. I need that in a partner.”

“And if I don’t help you?” Vriska said suspiciously.

“Then I turn you in to the police, obviously.”

Vriska snorted. “Wow, didn’t see that coming. Why should I trust that you won’t do it anyway?”

The girl seemed deeply offended by this. Her smile disappeared. “Oh, Vriska. I am a girl of my word! If I say I am not going to turn you in, I am not going to turn you in.”

“That’s such an amazing incentive,” Vriska grumbled. “Okay. Whatever. I’ll take it out of my precious time to help you with your stupid vigilante gig.” She stuck out her hand. 

The girl did not move. 

Oh, right. “Shake my hand,” Vriska said.

The girl reached out and grabbed onto Vriska’s hand to shake it enthusiastically. “The name’s Terezi. Terezi Pyrope.”

Vriska had the feeling she was going to regret this decision.

***

Vriska had never been blackmailed before. She had blackmailed others, certainly, but that was a completely different thing. She had never known the uncomfortable feeling of being forced to do something.

It was a bitch.

Terezi had given her a slip of paper with an address and time. When Vriska asked what the hell, Terezi had only smiled and told her to “be there, and don’t be late.”

Well, here Vriska was, at the place, at the time. The time was five in the evening. The place was a little less easy to describe.

It was a house, that much was for certain. But the decor made Vriska’s nose wrinkle as she knocked on the door. The exterior was painted a shade of teal with accents of bright red, and several dragon dolls like the one she had tried to steal were hanging from the windows. Literally hanging, with miniature nooses tied around their necks. Vriska did not have a difficult time guessing who the house belonged to.

Her suspicions were confirmed when Terezi answered the door. “Vriska!” she chirped. “Come on inside. It’s time for briefing.” She retreated back into the house as Vriska slipped her shoes off.

“How did you even know it was me?” Vriska wondered out loud.

“You smell like blueberries and deceit,” Terezi said from down the hall. “It’s this way, come on!”

Vriska followed the sound of her voice, trying not to concentrate on the fact that she was in a likely-insane stranger’s house, and that stranger had enough dirt on her to get her thrown in the slammer. Instead she concentrated on how the house smelled weirdly like cherries. Yeah, there was some kind of scent fetish going on here. 

Terezi was waiting in a room empty of any furniture. 

As Vriska’s eyes roamed the walls, she decided that Terezi was definitely insane.

“What is all this?”

‘All this’ was the mass of photographs, maps, news clippings, string and thumbtacks that littered the walls. It resembled any standard investigation that could be found in a crime drama, in which the detective protagonist would stare at the mess and stroke his chin until some crazy revelation came to him. Terezi stood doing almost just that, except instead of stroking her chin she was biting at a lollipop.

What kind of person _bites_ lollipops?

“This is my investigation,” Terezi said, her voice muffled by the candy. “You see the four pictures in the center?”

In the middle of the wall was a cluster of photos. Vriska looked closer and saw that each depicted one subject. There were two boys and two girls.

“Kanaya Maryam,” Terezi said, whacking her cane against one of the photos. “Feferi Peixes,” she said, pointing to the next. “Gamzee Makara. And Sollux Captor. That’s in order of disappearance. Each vanished without a trace. The police are treating them as separate instances, but there are facts that link them together that the police are unaware of.”

“What are the facts?” Vriska asked. Against her will, she was beginning to grow curious.

Terezi waggled a finger in Vriska’s direction. “Not telling yet! You have to earn the prosecutor’s trust before she spills the secrets of the case.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. If you want me helping you with this, don’t you need me to understand the case?”

Terezi shook her head. “You can help perfectly well without this particular fact. All you need to know is the victims, and what we find out together.”

Vriska sighed. “You’re fucking weird. Why not just, hmm, let the police handle it? Considering it’s their job to handle crimes, and all?”

Terezi scowled. “The police don’t always do what needs to be done to solve a case. Too often are officers corrupted, or too stupid to see what lies right in front of their faces, and then cases end up collecting dust in a filing cabinet for ten years. I’m not going to let that happen.”

Vriska looked at her for a long time. There was something searching in her gaze.

“You’ve got a personal connection to this,” she said finally. “Which one of them did you know?”

“Good, good!” Terezi seemed delighted by her question. “There’s the connection-making I need. To answer your question, it was Sollux. He does hacking for me. I would be displeased if I never got to work with him again. And there’s also the fact that he’s, y’know, my friend.”

“Hacking?” Vriska shook her head. “At first I thought you were some justice-obsessed freak. But you just want revenge, right?”

“Nope! I am very much a justice-obsessed freak. I am just willing to go further than any paltry police officer or detective.”

“Further as in recruiting a kleptomaniac you’ve been stalking to help you track down your hacker?” Vriska smirked. 

Terezi was unfazed. “Yes, exactly. Now… Let’s talk plans.” She dropped her cane and, since there were no chairs in the room, sat down on the floor. Vriska hesitated before joining her.

“I’ve been looking into the personal connections of all those who disappeared,” Terezi began. She took another bite out of her lollipop and it broke in half with a wicked crack. “I tracked down a friend of each of them. We’ll interview those subjects individually, and we can compare the results of each interview to look for the bigger picture.”

Vriska made a discontented noise. “We’re going to put the shit all over the walls, aren’t we.”

Terezi looked shocked. “Fuck no! I would never get shit all over my beautiful investigative walls. We are going to pin up the data collected from our interviews.”

Then she sniggered. “Yes, we’re putting the shit all over the walls, idiot.”

Vriska did not know how much more of this girl she could stand.

A loud buzzing came from Terezi’s pocket. She reached in and pulled out a cell phone contained in what looked to be a self-colored case, judging by the garish color scheme and smeared marker. She accepted the call and held the phone to her ear. 

“Terezi lowers her mighty head to listen to her kitty informant’s news. What’s up?”

What the fuck?

The one side of the phone call Vriska could hear painted a picture she neither understood nor wanted to.

“The dragon nods sagely… She asks if this is all… She gives Ms. Leijon a kiss on her furry head before rearing up on her hind legs and roaring a mighty roar! This news will help her investigation very much, she says. Please do not hesitate to inform me of any new developments. Yep! Bye.”

“Do I even want to know?” said Vriska.

Terezi shrugged. “My informant likes to roleplay. Anyway…” Her face lit up. “There’s been a new disappearance!”

“You look happy about that. You should not be happy about that.”

“Shush, you.” Terezi held up her phone so Vriska could see it. On the screen was a picture of a girl with soft features, full lips, and dark circles beneath her eyes. Her hair was dark and curly, tumbling off her shoulders and beyond the bottom edge of the photo. “What’s she look like?”

With all Terezi’s mysterious perceptions, it was all the easier to forget that she couldn’t see. “She looks… tired,” Vriska decided. Terezi scoffed.

“I meant a physical description, dumpass.”

“She’s got brown hair, almost black. Looks Asian. She’s got brown eyes and she’s wearing dark red lipstick, she’s kinda chubby. Really pale. Her expression is like…” Vriska hesitated. “Like she could be dead, and she wouldn’t look any different.”

“Thank you. That is much better,” Terezi said, satisfied. “Her name is Aradia Megido. It’s funny you should describe her like that…”

Her grin widened into a toothy leer. 

“She’s the first disappearance to be reported dead.”

Vriska was definitely going to regret this decision.


	2. A False Start

“You know, saying that you ‘looked into the personal connections’ of the victims makes you seem a lot more edgy than saying you Facebook stalked them.”

Terezi raised an eyebrow. “Why else would I have said it?” Her fingers tapped away at her keyboard, entering Aradia Megido’s name into Facebook’s search field.

Vriska sighed. “Okay. Whatever, I shouldn’t be surprised by anything you do. What are we doing?”

Terezi shifted her laptop so Vriska could see it. “We’re hunting down her friends so we can interview them. Did I type that right?”

“Yeah.” Vriska leaned over and clicked on Aradia’s name. Her profile picture was of herself, wearing a dirty old fedora and grinning. On the left side of her profile was her list of friends. “Hmm… Her relationship status is ‘it’s complicated,’ that’s always fun. Looks like the guy’s name is Equius Zahhak. Are we gonna pay him a visit?”

“Yes. Where does he live?”

“Skaia City. It’s got to be somewhere nearby.” Vriska snickered. “I’m gonna poke him.”

“Vriska, do not poke him. No one uses the poke feature anymore.”

“Poked him! Now I’m messaging him.” Vriska pulled the laptop from Terezi’s hands. “Hey, hot stuff,” she read aloud as she typed. “Wanna grab coffee at Dreamer’s? Winky face.”

“Vriska, no!” Terezi cried. “He’s not going to respond to that, his kind-of girlfriend just died!”

Vriska hit ‘send.’ “Too late!”

Terezi groaned. “Now we’ll have to find someone else to interview. Thanks a lot.”

The computer made a noise, and a new message popped up. “‘Um,’” Vriska read. “‘All right.’ Oh my _god_! What a creep. I can’t wait to meet him.”

“Wait, he responded?” Terezi said in disbelief. “To a flirtation that desperate? Ew. It’s no wonder Aradia’s status was ‘it’s complicated.’”

“We’re meeting in twenty minutes,” Vriska informed her partner. “Make yourself look nice.”

“I always look nice.”

Vriska looked at her, unimpressed. “You wear crocs.”

“There is nothing wrong with that,” Terezi pouted. “They’re comfortable.”

“I said _look_ nice, not _feel_ nice. Go shape up.”

***

Dreamer’s was a popular coffee joint for those who needed a strong enough jolt of caffeine to keep them up three nights. Vriska wasn’t one to abstain from coffee, but she reluctantly declined to order anything after much scolding from Terezi. 

“I need you sharp,” Terezi had said. “I can’t have you losing sleep and then crashing during an interrogation!”

When asked what she meant by “interrogation,” she had only giggled.

The place was packed enough that Vriska had to look closely in order to find who she was looking for. All the pictures Equius had posted to his Facebook profile were of his muscles, and the only photo that showed his face had it halfway cut off. The best idea Vriska had of what to look for was “buff sweaty guy in sunglasses.”

And that was exactly what she found.

He was sitting near the window, his leg jiggling beneath the table. He was wearing a pair of squared-off sunglasses that looked as if they had been cracked and glued back together many times, and a tank top that showed off the muscles Vriska had to admit were pretty nice.

Terezi sniffed the air, looking disgusted. “Something smells like gym socks.”

“That’s our man,” Vriska replied. “He’s a reeeeeeeeal stud. Ripped as they come.”

Terezi sniffed harder. “Does he… Does he have a man-bun? He smells like the type.”

“Close. It’s a ponytail.” Vriska sidled up to his table and took a seat.

“Hey, hot stuff,” she said with a smirk. “See anything you like?”

Equius wiped his wrist along his forehead upon seeing Terezi. “I was under the impression that I would be meeting with, erm, one person?” he stammered.

Terezi pulled up a chair, grating it loudly against the floor. “Pssh, what gave you that idea? The two-for-one deal is so much better!” She placed her elbows on the table. “Now, let’s talk about Aradia.”

Beads of sweat appeared along Equius’s hairline. It was almost enough to make Vriska gag. “Wait, what? What do you want to know about her? And why?”

Vriska looked uncertainly to Terezi. What _did_ they want to know?

“How did she die?” Terezi asked.

“Illness,” Equius mumbled. 

The smallest of frowns quirked at Terezi’s lips. “Okay, how long ago did she die?”

At Vriska’s confused expression, she leaned in to whisper: “My informant isn’t always timely with her information. She just told me that Aradia was dead, not when it happened. She could’ve waited a week before telling me.”

Equius either ignored or did not hear this exchange. “It was about this time last week,” he began. “I heard the news from her sister, Damara. She called and said that Aradia was… The funeral was a few days ago. It was all very quiet.”

“Did you see her shortly before her death?” Terezi asked. Her demeanor was more and more becoming that of an interrogator, and Equius quaked under the gleaming stare of her glasses.

“No. She was in the hospital, she asked me not to come and see her because she was contagious.”

“Can you confirm that she was under care?” Terezi challenged. “Which hospital was she in?”

“Um… I would assume that she would have been in Skaia General.”

“Did you ever speak with her face-to-face? Over video call, perhaps?”

Equius shrugged helplessly. “No. We just talked on the phone… But she would have no reason to lie about something like that.”

Terezi changed her tactic. “Do you think there is anyone who may have wanted to kill her, Mr. Zahhak?” 

Equius startled. “Killed her? Oh, goodness, no. She was an excellent and upstanding young woman,” (he mopped his brow with a napkin), “and the family never said anything of murder. No, her death was natural.” 

“Would she have been the type to consider suicide?”

“No!” Equius was beginning to look upset. “She was passionate, about her friends, about archaeology, she was happy with her life. Why are you asking any of this?”

“No reason,” Terezi said breezily. “Oh, one more thing. Where is her grave?”

Equius was speechless. Eventually, he managed to form an answer. “Um. Skaia City Cemetary. Near the pine grove.”

“Thank you! That’s all we needed to know.” Terezi stood up, and Vriska did the same. The blind girl practically skipped out of the cafe, and Vriska was left to follow in bemusement. 

“What was that all about?”

“He gave us everything we need to move on to our next step,” Terezi said, satisfied. 

“And what exactly is our next step?” 

“We check the hospital records.” Terezi held open the door for Vriska as they stepped outside. “Before you ask, yes, I can do that, and yes, it is because of my hacker friend.”

Just down the sidewalk was a bench. Terezi plopped down on it, already tapping away at her cell phone. “Open app: CaptorCodes,” she directed it. Through a combination of voice commands and what Vriska assumed was memorization of the keyboard, Terezi navigated through her phone and pulled up an official-looking website. 

“There should be a search bar. Put in her name, see what happens.”

Vriska took the phone and typed in Aradia’s name. When the page reloaded, there were no results. “We didn’t find anything matching those terms. Try looking for spelling errors or changing the keywords of your search.” Vriska frowned. “Explain?”

Terezi grinned. “Just as I expected. She never stayed in Skaia General Hospital, and I don’t think she stayed in any other hospital, either. I don’t even think Aradia Megido was sick.”

“Explain.”

Terezi stood up and walked to the edge of the street. “Aradia was isolated for a period of undetermined length before her death, and despite being ‘passionate about her friends,’ gave them no detail to sate their worries. The explanation of her death doesn’t make sense. The hospital made no indication of her supposed stay, and she wouldn’t have committed suicide or been killed… So, I have one major suspicion, but to confirm it we’re going to need to check out her grave.”

“Terezi?” Vriska said seriously.

“What.”

“Is what we’re about to do legal?”

Terezi snorted. “Of course not.”

“Oh, of course not. What should I have expected,” Vriska grumbled. “Is there any chance of us being arrested?”

“A very small one. Hey, do you think there’s a department store nearby?”

“I think there’s one a few blocks away.” Vriska started in the store’s direction without waiting for the order. She had decided it wasn’t worth sounding like a broken record endlessly asking “why.” Terezi followed close behind.

The department store was small, but as Terezi opened the door and smelled its interior, she proclaimed that it would do just fine. “Now, all we have to do is find the shovels.”

Vriska stopped short. “Find the _what._ ”

“The shovels. Are you deaf or just stupid?”

Vriska pulled Terezi into an aisle, where no cashiers or innocent customers could overhear their conversation. “Please do not fucking tell me we are _digging up a grave,_ ” she hissed.

Terezi giggled. “I don’t think you would like it if I lied to you!”

“Terezi!” Vriska glared at her. “There’s more than a little risk of arrest for that. What if someone sees us? And why do you think this is necessary, anyway?”

“Nobody will see. You’ll be the lookout. And as for why it’s necessary, there are several reasons.” Terezi counted on her fingers. “One, I have a very large hunch, and this is the best way to confirm it.”

“Oh, great. We might end up in jail because amatuer detective over here has a hunch,” Vriska said sarcastically. “Fucking wonderful!”

“And that leads me to number two! You don’t trust me at all. I don’t know if it’s because I’m blind, or because I blackmailed you, or because you don’t think it’s possible that I actually might be smart, but my hunches are _always_ correct. I can count exactly one time I have been wrong. If we’re going to solve this case, I’m going to need you to trust in my ability.” Terezi slid down her glasses. 

Vriska had never seen her eyes before. Now, she knew why.

Terezi’s eyes were covered in mottled red scar tissue, the lids half-closed by what appeared to be healed slash marks. Her left iris was just barely visible, and in the center Vriska could see her pupil, clouded and defective. 

“Mistakes have consequences,” the girl with the broken eyes said quietly. “That’s why I don’t make them anymore.”

Vriska was speechless.

“Uh… Yeah. Okay. Shovels, anyone?”

She turned quickly and began to peruse the aisles, searching for shovels and a distraction. 

What the hell was going on? She had just been trying to have a day at the mall, maybe steal a little, maybe grab a bite to eat. She hadn’t meant to get tangled up in _this._ If she had known what was going to happen when she fixed her eyes on that girl with the dragon, she would have left the mall and never come back.

What had happened to Terezi’s eyes?

What kind of work would be so dangerous as to receive that type of injury?

Vriska was in such deep shit.

She hurried into the next aisle and found the shovels. They ranged in quality from six feet long, industrial grade, to two inches, pink plastic. Vriska ran her hands through the tiny pink shovels, smiling slightly.

Itch. Itch. Itch.

Oh, hell. Vriska glanced over her shoulder. Terezi had remained behind when Vriska absconded to the shovel aisle. She peeked around the corner. The cashier was sitting boredly at his post, paying no mind to her. 

She looked up at the security cameras. If she stood with her back to them…

Even with the tiniest of items, Vriska’s heart would beat fast when she realized what she was about to do. Most of the time, it wasn’t even her decision. Her fingers would start to twitch, and before she knew it, she’d be walking out of a store with a ceramic penguin tucked into her coat. 

She faced away from the camera and slipped one of the tiny shovels into her sleeve. She curled her wrist and snapped the tag off, then watched it flutter to the ground. 

Vriska smiled. It was the perfect crime.

Because, honestly, no one cared if a useless item like that disappeared from its place. No one cared, and yet, it was so satisfying. They never noticed! They couldn’t stop her! It was an even better feeling with larger things, almost a high, but Vriska didn’t want to risk walking out with a garden rake or anything. It would be harder to slip away unnoticed.

“You’re stealing, aren’t you.” Vriska jumped. Terezi had silently appeared at the end of the aisle while she was preoccupied.

“Can’t help it,” she said evasively. “Compulsive disorders are powerful things.”

Terezi raised an eyebrow. “Is that really all it is? You’re really going to pretend you don’t enjoy it?”

“Kleptomania is characterized by a sense of relief when stealing,” Vriska mumbled. “If I enjoy it, it’s not my fault.”

“I’m not saying you don’t have it, you obviously do, but…” Terezi frowned. “Your pleasure goes beyond relief. This is fun to you.”

Vriska didn’t know what to say to that. 

“Uh, should we get our shovel, then?” she said.

“Yes.” Terezi plucked one of the largest shovels from its rack as if it weighed no more than a feather, and strode past Vriska to the cashier. 

As she walked, she pushed the fallen tag under a display with her foot.

Vriska narrowed her eyes. Stealing was her stress relief, and it was none of Terezi’s business! She was going to take whatever she wanted, and if she had fun doing it, well, it wasn’t Terezi’s job to judge her.

She snatched another pink shovel as Terezi paid, and then they were out the door.

Terezi nodded to Vriska and walked with her to the edge of the road. “Let’s get a cab, the cemetery’s a little far to walk.” She stuck her arm out into the street.

There was a long silence as they waited for a ride. 

“If we do get arrested, I’m pinning the blame on you,” Vriska eventually sniffed. All the tension was getting to her. To her relief, a taxi pulled up not a moment later. 

Terezi poked the car door with her cane, then reached out and swung it open. Vriska heard her cheerfully request transportation to the cemetery as she got into the back seat. The car pulled away from the curb.

Something suddenly occurred to Vriska. “Wait, if you’ve got money for a cab and a shovel, why did you make me buy you Starbucks earlier?” 

Terezi grinned. “You didn’t object. Not too much, anyway, and I am never one to turn down such generosity.”

“You owe me five bucks.” Terezi only giggled and turned to face forward in her seat. She leaned her head against the window as they traveled, and any less-aware person would think she was watching the city pass by. 

Skaia City had many names. “The City of Two Rings,” or “The City of Light.” All who spoke its name spoke it with reverence, for a city too pristine to be true. Its cemetery certainly upheld this reputation. Every gravestone looked brand new. The grass was neatly cut, and fresh flowers had been left at many of the graves. Vriska thought it looked like the final resting place of bank employees and lawyers, all those people who seemed to have perfect, white-collar lives. But if that was true, where did all the criminals go when they died?

Even in the city of light, there must be shadows.

“Thank you!” Terezi chirped. Vriska looked on, a bit resentfully, as the girl pulled out her wallet and paid for their ride.

“Now,” Terezi said as they clambered out. “We search for Ms. Megido.” She lifted her chin and inhaled deeply through her nose. 

She made an abrupt turn, and headed off towards a thick cluster of pine trees across the cemetery. “Follow me!”

“Yes, officer, I did follow the blind girl,” Vriska muttered. “Yes, I did think it was a bad idea, but I didn’t say anything because I was a fucking imbecile.”

They had neglected to ask Equius for a description of Aradia’s gravestone, so they were left to read the name of each stone in the area until they found the right one. Aradia’s was of soft pink stone, and the name was sharply engraved, along with her lifespan and a quote.

“Suffering begins to dissolve when we can question the belief or the hope that there’s anywhere to hide,” Vriska read. “Jesus. That’s grim.”

“Oddly so, if she was as happy as Equius described,” Terezi agreed. “Hey, what time is it?”

Vriska checked the clock on her cell phone. “Almost nine. It’s plenty dark out.”

“Excellent. Let’s begin.”

***

“Ughhh,” Terezi groaned. “Why do graves have to be so _deep_?” She flung the shovel to the side and climbed out of the pit she had dug. It was nearly four feet deep, and had taken her more than two hours to make. 

“Maybe to discourage people from digging them up?” Vriska suggested. 

Terezi wiped her dirty hands on her jeans. “Here, you do the rest. I’ll be lookout for a while.”

“You’re fucking blind, Terezi.”

“And I handle myself perfectly well all the same! _You_ didn’t see me sneak up on you in that store, and you can see,” she said smugly. “I think my enhanced hearing and sense of smell will do us more good than your lazy sight. Now go dig.”

Vriska grudgingly picked up the shovel and jumped down into the hole. She sunk the blade into the ground, scooping up a pile of soil and throwing it over her shoulder. She didn’t bother aiming away from Terezi. It was a good thing the funeral had been recent, or the job would have been much more difficult. 

Vriska made steady progress for the next hour or so, digging away at the grave until her shovel tip hit something solid. When the dull _thunk_ registered, her eyes went wide.

“Terezi, I think I’ve hit the casket.”

“Great!” Terezi leaned over the edge of the hole, peering down to where Vriska stood. “Yes, that looks like it. Now dig around the edges, we need to open it.”

Vriska awkwardly scraped the earth away from the coffin’s lid, feeling her way around until she could hook her fingers around the edges. She took a deep breath.

“Ohhhhhhhh, man, if I’m about to be staring down a diseased corpse, you’re ending up in this coffin with her.”

Vriska lifted the lid.

“Exactly as I thought,” Terezi murmured.

The coffin was empty.

“What the hell?” Vriska furrowed her brow. “She… She’s not dead, then. Did she fucking fake her death?”

“Either that, or someone wanted to make it look like she was dead,” Terezi mused. “So they could protect her, maybe?”

Vriska shut the lid and threw the shovel up. Terezi caught it. “How did you know it would be empty?”

Terezi shrugged as she reached out her hand. Vriska took it and heaved herself back to the surface. “I never take anything at face value. For example, the police are confronted with a dead girl; they think she was murdered or committed suicide. But I think, ‘Is she really dead?’”

“That’s why you were asking Zahhak all those questions, then.”

“Yes. Just to explore any possibilities. And then his answers made it seem not only possible, but probable, and very much so.” Terezi smiled. “And now, my hunch has been confirmed! I believe you owe me an apology.”

“For what?”

“For doubting me, obviously.” 

Vriska huffed. “You can’t blame me.”

“No, I don’t, but you can’t argue with the fact that I’m a genius.” Terezi tilted her head pleasantly. “I’m waiting!”

“Fine. Sorry for thinking you were crazy because you suggested we dig up a grave on a whim. It was soooooooo rude of me.”

“Thank you.” Terezi handed the shovel back to Vriska. “Now, fill it in!”

“What?” Vriska said, insulted. “I just had my turn!”

“And it was much shorter than mine! So get to work!” Terezi retorted.

Vriska grabbed the shovel from her hands and sourly began to shift the dirt pile back into the grave. “You owe me. Big time.”

“Five bucks, you already told me. How about this. I’ll get the Starbucks next time.”

Vriska shook her head firmly. “Starbucks doesn’t cover the muck all over my clothes. You owe me ten bucks, a night’s sleep without you bothering me, and a new pair of jeans.”

Terezi sized her up. “Five bucks and the jeans.”

“Fine. But you’d better get me Starbucks, too, and it’d better be a venti.”


	3. An Old Story

“It’s too fucking early for this,” Vriska groaned. She held her phone away from her ear, wincing as Terezi cackled.

“It’s almost nine! I gave you much more than a night’s sleep.”

“You kept me up until one in the morning, sleeping in afterwards counts as part of my night!” Vriska snapped back. 

“Okay, but I never actually agreed to give you a night’s sleep in the first place, sooo… Wake up. We have an interrogation to initiate.”

Vriska groaned again. She shoved her blankets away halfheartedly, squeezing her phone between her ear and shoulder. “Please tell me it isn’t a creep like last time.” She groped around on her nightstand for her glasses and shoved them onto the bridge of her nose. “Wait, how did you get my number, anyway?”

“You gave it to me last night. Jeez, you must be tired,” Terezi commented. “Have you got pills or anything that’ll wake you up?”

“No. Just a coffee machine.” Vriska slid off her bed and landed unsteadily on her feet. After a moment she regained her balance and began to pad towards her kitchen. “Your stalker tendencies are making me paranoid. I half expected you to be in my house when I woke up.”

“Aww, already having dreams of domesticity?”

“You wish.” Vriska took the phone from her shoulder and laid it on the counter, setting the volume as high as it would go. Terezi’s voice crackled through the speakers as Vriska began to brew a pot of coffee. Black, of course, and of the highest quality roast-- she wasn’t having any of that sugary instant shit.

“Our victi-- witness for today goes by the name of Eridan Ampora. He’s one of Feferi’s friends.”

Vriska frowned as she poured her coffee. “Wait, what about Aradia?”

“She’s on pause,” Terezi answered. “In order to see why she faked her death, we need more information about the case overall. You can’t solve a puzzle with only a fraction of the pieces.”

Vriska nodded. “Okay. Cool. Are you going to leave me alone after we’re finished with the guy?”

“Probably not. We’ve always got more work to do.”

“And you just love to annoy me.” Vriska sipped her coffee, taking small mouthfuls as to avoid burning her tongue. “What are we aiming to find out when we interrogate him?” 

“Well, we need to find out the specifics of her disappearance. Where she was last seen, would anyone want to harm her, etcetera etcetera. Mostly we’re aiming to find out why someone would kidnap or kill her,” Terezi said. “Can you hurry up? I arranged to meet with Eridan in ten minutes.”

Vriska jumped. “Ten minutes? Jesus, that’s too soon. Why do you have to be so eager about this? I’ll call you back when I’m dressed.” She ended the call, set her mug, half-empty, on the counter and hurried back to her bedroom to change. 

She really should have asked what Terezi had told Eridan. If their meeting was instigated by a flirtation like the one with Equius had been, Vriska would be tempted to wear one of her more eye-catching outfits. Just to see the look on the guy’s face. But if it was just a lame meetup she wouldn’t bother dressing so fancy. Damn it! She would have to improvise.

She threw together an outfit as quickly as she could, shrugging on a tank top and black leather jacket. After much debate she opted for jeans with only minor ripping. With a coat of her trademark blue lipstick and some eyeliner, she felt presentable, and headed out the door. She dialed Terezi’s number as she locked it behind her. 

“Where should I meet you?” she asked, not bothering to say hello. 

“We’re going right to his house!” Terezi said. She sounded excited. “I’m almost there, I’ll send you directions.”

A picture of a printed-out map appeared on Vriska’s screen. 

“Thank God it’s printed. I’ve never seen your handwriting and I never want to,” Vriska muttered. “I’ll see you soon.” She hung up without saying goodbye and took a closer look at the map.

Eridan lived across town, in the neighborhood that was home to most of the city’s rich white assholes. Vriska made a face as she started up her car. She set her phone on her dashboard where she could see it, and backed out of her driveway, looking to the map for the first instruction.

When she finally found Eridan’s house, it was exactly what she expected. It was practically a mansion, with a huge, well-kept lawn, a shiny sports car sitting in the drive, and a garden filled with flowers so perfect they looked fake. Terezi’s red car was parked on the street. 

The air around the house smelled like pine. As Vriska walked up to the door, she suspected that there must be giant air fresheners somewhere, considering there were no pine trees in sight. 

The door was white and freshly painted. A carved glass window took up the top half, but it was so ornamental that Vriska couldn’t actually see through it. She reached out and lifted the knocker. It smacked down loudly when she released it.

A form could be seen approaching through the opaque window. The door swung inwards, and Terezi appeared, smiling as wide as ever. “What took you so long?”

“What took you so short?” Vriska mumbled. She kicked off her boots, following her partner inside. She made sure her voice was too low to be heard, then asked: “So, is he a douche?”

“The douchiest,” Terezi whispered. “Don’t go off on him, he’ll probably try and sue us.” She giggled. “Okay, come on, he’s in the living room. Oops. I mean the _drawing room._ ”

Vriska rolled her eyes as they walked down the hall and through an open entrance to the room where their witness waited. 

He sat on a pristine white couch, looking as though he’d never seen anything but wealth. His brown hair had streaks of blond, and was slicked back from his forehead into a slight pompadour. He was even worse than Vriska had expected. His glasses looked designer, his scarf was probably made by unpaid child slaves, and he had striped pants on. Who the fuck wore striped pants? 

“Eridan, this is my partner, Vriska,” Terezi said cheerfully. “Vriska, meet Eridan Ampora.”

Eridan inclined his head slightly. “Pleasure to meet you. Do you want to sit down?”

Terezi sat on the couch beside him, and Vriska plopped down on her other side. “Commence interview?”

“Commence interview,” Terezi confirmed. She adjusted her position on the sofa so she was facing Eridan. “So, Mr. Ampora. How would you describe your relationship with Feferi Peixes?”

“We’ve known each other practically since birth. She’s my best friend.” Vriska thought she saw the slightest frown cross his face. “We’re really close. I’m only talkin’ to you because the police aren’t doin’ anythin’ and I need someone to find her.”

“And because we’re free, I bet,” Vriska said under her breath. Terezi looked at her sharply before asking her next question.

“When did you last see her?”

Eridan shrugged. “It was about a month ago. We… had a disagreement. She left after that. I thought she was just ignorin’ me, but after literally no one was able to reach her I reported her missin’.”

“She rejected you.” Vriska smirked. “Is that what happened? Don’t look shocked, it’s obvious. You were her best childhood buddy who harbored secret feelings, and when you finally got up the nerve to ask her out, she turned you down. I’m right, aren’t I? It’s all on your face.”

Eridan scowled. “That’s none of your business.”

“Nice deduction,” Terezi murmured to Vriska. She addressed Eridan again. “Where were you, when you saw her?”

“We were downtown. Near Ahab’s Crosshairs.” 

Terezi raised an eyebrow. “The gun store?”

“Yeah. We were just kinda walkin’ around, hangin’ out. Talkin’ about life.” Vriska held back a snort at the wistful expression on Eridan’s face. 

“What did you discuss?” Terezi prompted.

Eridan shrugged. “Personal stuff. What’s been goin’ on. We talked about the new sushi place, her schoolwork, town legends, you know. The usual random friendly talk.”

“Town legends?” Terezi was intrigued. “Like what?”

Eridan ran his fingers through his heavily-gelled hair. “Like, you know the story of the queens?”

Terezi nodded in recognition, but Vriska shook her head. Eridan snorted. “What, you ever wonder why they call this place the City of Two Rings?”

She glared at him. Remembering Terezi’s request to be polite, she spoke through clenched teeth. “Just tell the story.”

“Skaia City was once divided into two towns,” Eridan began. “Prospit and Derse. There’s evidence of that bein’ true, of course, but beyond that is where the legend begins. It says that neither town had an official figure of authority, but there were two women who were considered the leaders. Due to their conflicting views, but equally regal personalities, they were nicknamed the Black Queen and the White Queen.” He visibly relaxed as he spoke. “Both queens possessed a ring. Each ring was said to be of ridiculous value and symbolized their leadership. But tensions began to grow between the two towns, and Derse attacked Prospit, hopin’ to gain control and steal the White Queen’s ring. They were unsuccessful. In fact, the White Queen ended up banishin’ the Black Queen. Then she hid the rings and disappeared.”

Vriska tilted her head. “And nobody’s ever found them?”

Eridan rolled his eyes. “Of course not. That story’s a load of horse shit. There were never any queens or rings, I just… Fef liked the story a lot. She would always wonder where the rings were hidden. It was somethin’ we talked about a lot.”

“So, she believed?”

“Yeah.” He sighed. “She never listened when I told her it wasn’t real.”

“Wow, you must be a great friend, reassuring her that her favorite stories are fake.” Vriska relished in the angry flush that darkened Eridan’s cheeks.

Terezi quickly interrupted. “Okay. Next question. Do you think there would be anyone who would want to hurt her?”

To Vriska’s surprise, Eridan nodded. “Absolutely. She was rich as hell, basically a princess. I can easily see some lowlife kidnappin’ her for the ransom.”

“You said it was a month ago she disappeared?” Terezi’s brow furrowed. “I would expect ransom to be posted soon after a kidnapping… Let’s rule that out for the moment. Would there be any other reason to hurt her?”

“She was involved in a lot of activism type stuff. Maybe someone wanted her to quit it?”

“Maybe.” Terezi looked up to the ceiling, lost in thought. She was silent for a long time.

“Do you know anyone named Kanaya Maryam, Sollux Captor, or Gamzee Makara?” Vriska said suddenly, breaking the silence. Terezi looked at her in surprise. 

“Uh…” Eridan paused. “I think I’ve heard the name Maryam before, yeah. Why?” 

Terezi adjusted her glasses. “Because those people have also disappeared. We think the cases may be linked. What can you tell us about Kanaya?”

Eridan shrugged. “I think one of my friends, Karkat, knows her. I’ve only heard her name in passing.”

“Where could we find this Karkat?” 

When Vriska and Terezi had talked to Equius, Terezi had smiled a very particular smile. It was the mark of victory. Of a lead found. Now, she wore the same grin. 

Eridan pulled out a cell phone. “I can give you his address, if you want.”

“Yes, please!” Terezi whipped out her phone and typed in the address Eridan displayed for her. “You’ve been a great help. Thank you very much.” She motioned for Vriska to get up as she hopped off the couch. Vriska was barely to her feet when Terezi was skipping out the door.

“She tends to move fast without explaining,” Vriska called as she followed. “We’ll tell you if we find anything about your girlfriend.”

The door slammed shut, and Eridan was left looking bemused.

***

By the time she had gotten outside, Terezi was already driving away. Vriska called her as she buckled her seatbelt.

“Karkat Vantas!” Terezi declared before Vriska could get a word out. “I looked him up just now. He actually lives kind of near me. You need the address?”

“Yes,” Vriska said crossly. “And for you to stop dashing away without giving any reason.”

Terezi sniggered, then gave the address. Vriska copied it into Google Maps.

As soon as she was finished speaking, Terezi hung up without warning. Vriska looked at her phone in frustration, then called again, squinting as she followed the girl’s red car.

“How the fuck are you even allowed to drive?” she demanded. “You’re terrible at it. I can see you, you’re swerving all over the road.”

Terezi cackled. “I’m not allowed! But I do it anyway.”

“You should be arrested for public endangerment.”

“You should be arrested for stealing, but hey, we worked out a deal.”

Vriska groaned. “You’re terrible.”

“Bitch, I’m incredible! You’re the one who always smells like blueberry.” Vriska could practically see Terezi sticking her tongue out. “It’s normally a very nice scent, but you make it weird. Congratulations, you’ve officially ruined a fruit for me.”

“You know you love the blueberries,” Vriska replied. “You’ll accept it eventually.”

“If Karkat has anything suitable for throwing in his house, it’s going straight at your face.”

Vriska watched as Terezi’s car stopped along the side of the road. Her app announced that she had arrived at her destination, and she braked to park behind her partner. Terezi ended the call in her typical sudden fashion, but this time it didn’t bother Vriska. She just climbed out of her car and went to join the blind girl.

Terezi nodded to her, and they walked together up to the door.

Karkat’s house was noticeably less impressive than Eridan’s, but then again, any house would be. It actually appeared to be one of the more well-taken-care of ones in the area. This neighborhood had a reputation for poor folk and violence, the polar opposite of Eridan’s, which was famed for its wealthy inhabitants. The fact that this guy was friends with Eridan came as a bit of surprise-- Vriska would have pegged Eridan as the type to only be friends with the rich. And this house definitely looked as if it had seen some shit. The paint was wearing away in patches, and the steps to the porch creaked as Vriska climbed up them. Beside the doorbell was a post-it: “Bell broken. Knock or go away.”

“Friendly,” Vriska muttered. She rapped smartly on the door a few times.

It was a long time before anyone answered. She was half-convinced no one was home, and was about to turn and leave when the door swung open. Inside, a gruff-looking Latino boy glared up at her. Well, not boy-- he looked to be somewhere in his twenties. But he was short enough to pass for twelve.

Something about him seemed familiar, but Vriska couldn’t figure out why. 

“Hey there,” Terezi greeted him. Her face was tilted entirely too high to be speaking to him, due to her lack of vision, and he growled.

“Down here, chumpass. The fuck do you want?”

She adjusted her view. “Are you Karkat Vantas?”

“Who wants to know?” he snapped.

“Eridan Ampora sent us,” Vriska said helpfully. “We’re here to talk about some disappearances. Were you a friend of Kanaya Maryam?”

For a brief moment, the man looked scared. Then his scowl returned, and he began to close the door. “I don’t want cops around. Fuck off.”

“Wait!” Terezi held the door open. “We aren’t cops.”

“Then what are you?” His voice was a growl, but Vriska could hear some genuine curiosity within it. 

Terezi shrugged. “A blind girl over-invested in justice and a kleptomaniac. We’re trying to find your friend. Want to let us in?”

Karkat regarded them both with suspicion. Vriska thought he was about to kick them off his porch when he barked out a laugh. “Come on in, but don’t touch my shit. Try any funny business and you’re out.” Terezi nodded and allowed Vriska to go in first. 

Karkat steered her into the kitchen, making sure neither Terezi nor Vriska strayed. Once they were in the small room under his supervision, he crossed his arms and leaned against the doorway. “So. What do you want to know about Kanaya?”

“When did you last see her?” Terezi asked.

“A few weeks ago. I was over at her house to hang. I tried to go over the next day and she was gone. I figured she was just out, but she didn’t show up again.”

“Why do you think she would disappear? Would someone have reason to kidnap or harm her?”

Karkat shrugged. “No. She was a good person. Innocent as hell.”

Terezi pursed her lips. “Mr. Vantas, may I use your bathroom?”

He narrowed his eyes. “I’m not just going to let you walk through my house unsupervised. You’ll fucking ransack the place. Don’t think I don’t know your type, all sneaking around for clues that don’t exist.” 

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Vriska snapped. “She’s blind. What the fuck do you expect her to do?”

At this, Karkat seemed to relax a little. “Oh. Right. Sorry, it’s down the hall, the first door on the left. Careful, the door sticks a little.” He ushered Terezi out of the kitchen and then returned to glare at Vriska.

“You’re really trying to find Kanaya?” he said finally.

“Yes.”

He glanced away. “Find her quick, then. I don’t want her in danger.” 

The sincerity in his request startled Vriska. He had previously come off as an asshole, and a shifty one at that. If she was honest, she had been harboring quite a number of suspicions against him. Why was he acting so defensive of his home? Why didn’t he want cops around?

But then, when she thought about it, maybe those things weren’t so suspicious. He lived in a bad neighborhood, and the police would likely have racial bias against him. Maybe he was just scared of getting in trouble. She couldn’t blame him for that.

“Don’t worry,” she said quietly. “If anyone can find her, Terezi can. She might be batshit insane, but she’s smart, too.”

Karkat looked uncomfortable. He coughed and scratched at the back of his neck. “So, yeah, what’s the deal with Daredevil over there?” 

Vriska laughed. “Oh my God, that’s actually perfect. And the answer is I have no fucking clue. She just kind of showed up the other day and now we’re working together.”

“Really?” He looked surprised. “She seems way too comfortable around you to have met you so recently.” He blushed at Vriska’s curious expression. “Don’t look at me like that, I’m good with body language.”

She wiggled her eyebrows. “Body language, huh? Did you like what her body had to say?”

“Fuck off,” he grumbled. 

“Ooooooooh, touchy.” 

“Vriska!” Terezi yelled from down the hall. “I can’t get the door open!”

“Sorry,” Karkat called back. He jerked his head towards the door and looked at Vriska. “Go give her a hand. I’m sure as hell not helping a stranger out of the bathroom. Shit’s awkward.” Vriska rolled her eyes and left the kitchen.

The floor creaked as she walked, and she noticed sections off wallpaper missing, revealing chunks of broken plaster. Jeez. If Karkat had a friend like Eridan, why didn’t he just ask for help fixing his house up?

She located the bathroom door based on the thumping coming from the inside. “Hold on.”

She reached for the knob and was about to attempt to open the door when it suddenly swung open. Terezi yanked Vriska inside, then shut the door again as quickly and quietly as she could.

“I lied, it wasn’t stuck,” she whispered. “Look at this.” She ran her hands over the cracked bathroom mirror until she found the edge, then dug her fingertips into a chip in the wall where she could reach beneath the mirror. She wrenched it to the side.

Behind it, there was a large hole in the wall. In the hole were several bottles of pills, a couple of needles, and a small cloth bag.

“How did you find this?” Vriska gaped. Terezi tapped the edge of her nose. 

“Like a bloodhound. It’s drugs, right?”

“Yeah.” Vriska picked up one of the pill bottles and examined it. “All illegal, all expensive. He doesn’t look like an addict, so I’m guessing we’ve got ourselves a dealer.”

Terezi nodded. “No wonder he was acting so jumpy.”

“Does this have anything to do with the case?”

Terezi breathed deeply. “I don’t know. Maybe. It does make me a lot more suspicious of him. Did you notice how he barely gave us any details? I think he’s got something to hide, something more than this.”

Vriska carefully set the bottle back in the hole and put the mirror back in place. “Do you… Do you think he could be the kidnapper?”

Terezi scoffed. “Please. He didn’t want us in his house, why would he do something as risky as a kidnapping? No, if he’s involved, it’ll be in a small way.”

Vriska nodded. “Maybe the kidnapper’s dealer? Anyway, we should get back. He’ll wonder why we’re taking so long.” Terezi gave her a thumbs up, and they slipped out of the bathroom.

Upon re-entering the kitchen, Terezi began to loudly complain about faulty doorknobs. Vriska thought she saw relief in Karkat’s eyes as she too began to complain, selling the act as best she could. 

“Anyway,” Terezi said once she was finished protesting. “You’ve been a great help, but it’s time for us to go.” She gave a little bow, sweeping an imaginary hat off her head and holding it to her heart. “We’ll be sure to let you know when we find Kanaya.”

Karkat nodded, looking unsure of how to react. “Thanks.”

Terezi smiled in his direction before pulling Vriska by the arm out the door. 

Once they were far enough from Karkat’s house to be heard, Terezi spoke bluntly. “We’re staking this place out.”

Vriska looked at her incredulously. “What, you’re serious? Why?”

“I want to see if he pulls anything. Plus, maybe you’re right about him being the kidnapper’s dealer.” Terezi opened her car door and hopped inside. “I’m going to drive home, you should do the same. I’ll be back over here around ten tonight. You take your car, I’ll walk. Don’t be late.”

“What, I’m your chauffeur now?”

Terezi grinned. “Yes. That is exactly what you are.” She shut the door and revved up the car’s engine, pulling away while cackling like a maniac. Vriska shook her head. First a grave digging, now a stakeout? This girl was fucking crazy.

But it was a little bit exciting. 

***

“Redglare to Mindfang. Do you read me? Over.”

“One, these are cell phones, not walkie-talkies. Two, I can literally fucking see you. Three, we do not need code names.”

Vriska could see Terezi pout from about twenty feet away. “But what if I _want_ to use code names?”

Vriska chose not to answer, instead closing the gap between her and her partner. Terezi was standing behind a clump of bushes. As she heard Vriska approach, she sank down into a crouch to hide behind the plant. It was an admirable effort, but…

“You forgot to bring your cane down,” Vriska said, amused. “It’s sticking up.”

“Damn.” The cane receded into the bush. “Stop standing there, you’ll be seen.”

Vriska glanced towards the house. All the lights were off, save a single wavering glow from the window beside the door. 

“It’s dark out, he won’t see anything. I don’t even know if he’s home. There’s no car in the drive.”

“Maybe it’s in the garage,” Terezi pointed it out. “Maybe it’s out for repair. Maybe he doesn’t even have one. Quit making assumptions and let’s stay in your confirmed-to-exist car while we wait.” She stood up, brushing dirt from her pants. There was a piece of twig stuck in her hair. Vriska smiled and flicked the twig out of Terezi’s hair as they headed to the car. “Unless you’re planning on adopting the forest spirit lifestyle, you should clean up a little.” Terezi swatted her away. 

Vriska took the driver’s seat, and Terezi occupied shotgun. Vriska pressed a button to roll down the windows. A cool breeze wafted through, and she could almost make believe they were out on a summer night for fun instead of a stakeout.

Terezi turned her head towards the house. Listening, rather than looking. “Now we wait.”

Vriska sighed. “Really? We just wait? When he might not even be home?”

“Yes. If he is not home, we will be here when he arrives, and we will find out where he arrived from. If he’s going to do anything shifty, it’ll be tonight. I think our appearance will have spurred him into actio--” 

Terezi froze. “Don’t make a sound,” she breathed.

Vriska saw the door to Karkat’s house open. A familiar tiny form emerged, shut it, and trudged down the steps. He disappeared around the side of the house. In a moment, he reappeared, now wheeling a bike alongside him. He got on and wheeled straight over the curb, riding down the road.

“Now!” Terezi hissed. “Follow that bike!” 

Vriska obeyed, starting the car as quietly as she could and following Karkat’s retreating figure. She went as quickly enough to keep up with him, but slow enough that he would not notice. He turned around a corner. She followed, and they were officially in pursuit.

Karkat kept riding into the heart of the city. Vriska was his shadow, creeping along, ever-present. She mimicked all his twisting routes and sharp turns, until he finally banked into a narrow alley. She stopped the car. “Fuck, he’s off the road. Should I park here?”

Terezi was already out the door. “Leave the car, it doesn’t matter!” She took off into the alley.

Vriska ran after her and almost bumped right into her. Terezi stood as still as a statue. The shadows wrapped, blanket-like, around the two of them, concealing them in a pocket of night.

Moonlight shone from above and illuminated two others standing at the end of the alley.

They weren’t paying attention to Terezi or Vriska, thankfully. They hadn’t even noticed the girls’ arrival. One of them had a bike leaned against his hip and a slouch. Karkat. The other was a girl, taller, around Terezi’s height. When she spoke, her voice was low and dull.

“Do you really think they pose a threat?”

“Yes!” Karkat snapped. “Now that they’ve talked to Eridan! The idiot told them about the legends. He didn’t know what he was doing, of course, but he sure isn’t making things easy for us.”

“Would it really be so bad if they found out?” the girl mused. “After all, it would mean Kanaya could be freed.”

“She’ll only be free when the job’s done. That’s what he said, and I don’t think two clowns with over-inflated senses of justice are going to change his mind.”

Vriska ceased to breathe. Karkat was talking about her and Terezi. But who was this “he”? In her moment of contemplation, she missed what the girl said next, but whatever it was, it set Karkat off.

“God! You used to always act like everything was going to shit, why are you trying to be optimistic _now_? When are you going to get it through your head that there is _no way out of this,_ Aradia?” he exploded.

Terezi clamped a hand onto Vriska’s shoulder. 

_Aradia._

“You are exaggerating. There are several outcomes to our predicament. While none of them are necessarily preferable, they are indeed outcomes,” Aradia responded. “We must keep working.”

Karkat heaved a sigh. “Yeah. Whatever. You warn Tavros, okay? He’ll be next if they keep poking around.”

Aradia nodded. She stepped back into the shadows and seemed to melt into them. Though she could not be seen, Vriska knew after a moment that she was gone. Karkat went after her.

There was silence in the alley. 

Vriska waited until she thought it safe, then walked down to where Karkat and Aradia had stood minutes before. Where the girl had disappeared was the mouth to another alley. They must have gone that way.

“Tavros, huh?” said Terezi thoughtfully. “Thanks for the lead, Mr. Vantas. Wish you could have given it to us earlier.”

“Sounds like he doesn’t want to cooperate with the likes of us. Who do you think he was talking about, that ‘he’?”

“I don’t know. Add it to the list of things we can figure out after our last interview.”

Vriska scowled. “We’re still doing that shit? But we’ve got so much to work with!”

Terezi flicked her nose. “Pieces of a puzzle, remember? All in good time.” She began to walk back to Vriska’s car. “Let’s get you home. You’ve earned some sleep.”

“Really?” Vriska gasped, clutching at her chest dramatically. “Oh, the shock! Bless this day!”

Terezi smirked, looking over her shoulder at Vriska. “You’d better savor it. You won’t be getting another free night for a while.”

She was quiet as Vriska drove her home. She stared out the window just as she had on the way to the graveyard, seeing nothing, or perhaps just seeing in a different way. She only spoke again when they pulled up to her house.

“Really,” she said. “Good work today. Thank you for your help.” She smiled, and it was not her usual shark-toothed grin. It was a softer expression. It transformed the angles of her face from sharp and intimidating to something else, something pleasant and beautiful in its own right.

“You too,” said Vriska, not able to think of anything else to say. Terezi rapped her cane against the door before heading inside.

It was a long time before Vriska stopped looking after her.

Oh, this girl. This blind-eyed, justice-obsessed, yet morally-dubious girl. She was something else, that much was certain. She was fucking crazy. She was a loose cannon of manic energy and morbid delight. She was like nothing Vriska had ever experienced before. She was Terezi Pyrope, and she was dynamic.

And damn if Vriska wasn’t getting addicted to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please keep leaving comments! I appreciate you all :3


	4. A Sworn Enemy

All the lights in Terezi’s “investigation room,” the one with the pictures all over the walls, were off. Vriska flipped the light switch.

“If you’re going to ask me to come over, at least turn some lights on,” she grumbled as she sat down next to Terezi.

“Don’t need ‘em,” the blind girl responded. She was scribbling furiously in a notebook, occasionally dipping her fingers into small jars beside her and smearing the contents across the page. 

“What are you doing?” Vriska said curiously.

“Writing, obviously.”

“But what are those for?” Vriska nudged one of the jars.

Terezi gave her a scornful look. “What, you think I can read anything I write? They’re scents. If I leave a certain one on a certain page, I’ll remember what it says.”

Vriska picked up the jar Terezi had been most frequently using and sniffed it. “Cherry?”

Terezi nodded. “For Karkat. I’m writing what we’ve figured out so far. Kanaya was kidnapped presumably to keep Karkat under control, and I think it’s a safe bet to say the others were taken for similar reasons. We just don’t know who else the kidnapper is trying to control.”

“There’s Aradia,” Vriska pointed out.

“That’s true. But we don’t know who her hostage is. It could be Gamzee or Sollux. I kind of doubt that Eridan would get involved in crime and need to be controlled, so it could be Feferi too.”

“Fair point. We’re going to interrogate Tavros today?”

“Yes.” Terezi closed her notebook. Vriska wasn’t too sure the page had dried, and winced at the sticky mess that was likely the interior. “We’re going to find out who his hostage is, so we can narrow down the rest, and we’re going to find out who the ‘he’ Karkat mentioned is.” 

Vriska stood up and flicked off the lights as she stepped out into the hall. “Well, then. I assume you’ve already contacted Tavros and arranged for us to meet in some ridiculously short amount of time. Shall we be off?”

Terezi grinned. “Of course.”

She picked up her cane and drove it into the carpet, using it to help her stand up. “We’re meeting him at Tinkerbull’s.”

Vriska snorted. “What, the kids arcade?”

Terezi huffed. “I happen to like Tinkerbull’s. It has a very high quality selection of games, and the prizes are amazing.”

Vriska raised an eyebrow. “Hmmmmmmmm… You play candy crush, don’t you.”

Terezi walked out the door, not bothering to lock it. “You don’t know that!” she called over her shoulder. 

When Vriska caught up with her, she was tapped on the leg with her partner’s cane. “When we’re interrogating him, don’t let him realize how little we know. I’ve got a good feeling about this one.”

By now, Vriska had learned to trust Terezi’s hunches. 

***

First impressions were important when meeting someone new. When Vriska laid eyes on Tavros Nitram, she thought he either must not care a bit about first impressions, or he wanted to come across as a weak baby. No matter his motives, he looked like a doofus. 

The boy was sitting in a wheelchair that was positioned against a Pac-Man machine, his brown eyes darting back and forth across the arcade. A nervous grin played at his lips. His hair was shaved into a sort of fauxhawk, a strip of black curls running from the back of his neck to hang just over his forehead. Overall, he looked like the type of guy who tried to be slick, but then ended up getting his wallet stolen without even noticing. Vriska had encountered his type before. She was already planning on stealing his wallet.

But there was something about his face… Just as she had with Karkat, Vriska had a sneaking suspicion that she had seen him somewhere before. 

He looked up at the sight of Vriska and Terezi, his grin widening into something that was simultaneously more friendly and more nervous. “Hi. Are you, uh, Redglare and Mindfang?”

Terezi sniggered as Vriska rolled her eyes.

“No, we aren’t,” Vriska answered. “Those are just stupid names this dipshit made up. But we are who you’re looking for.”

The boy stuck out his hand to shake, then awkwardly let it drop when Vriska did not return the gesture. “So, uh. Wanna play some Pac-Man?”

Terezi looked at him fondly. “I like this one. Can we keep him?” Vriska shook her head, and she frowned, focusing back on Tavros. “No, Mr. Nitram. We are not here to play games. I’m just going to cut to the chase here. Is there a party room anywhere nearby?”

Tavros nodded. “Yeah, in the back… Uh, why?”

“It would be better to talk where we can’t be overheard.”

Tavros gulped, but began wheeling to the back of the arcade. He led them into a room decorated with streamers and shut the door behind them. 

Terezi sat down on the table. “So. Did your friend Karkat happen to warn you about two girls named Terezi and Vriska? That’s us.”

Tavros’s nervous smile was instantly wiped away and replaced by an expression of blank terror. 

Vriska smirked. “Them’s the breaks, kid. When Terezi wants you found, you get found.”

“I won’t tell you anything,” Tavros said tensely. “I’m sorry, but, uh, this isn’t any of your business.”

Terezi drummed her fingers on the table. “It’s funny. My partner and I have hypothesized that your friends were kidnapped to control you. If that’s true, you won’t get in trouble for anything we find out, we aren’t going to tell the police. Why are you so scared?”

Tavros bit his lip. “I, uh, really can’t tell you that.”

Terezi frowned. “Is it because of the kidnapper?”

“Um,” Tavros stammered. “I don’t know how you know about that, but, I am going to neither confirm nor, uh, deny, anything you’re saying.”

Terezi leaned in closer. “Why would he want to control you so badly?”

“I don’t know!” Tavros blurted out. At even the smallest bit of prying from Terezi, he was squirming with nerves. 

“Why would he go so far to secure your loyalty as to kidnap someone?” Terezi persisted. “Who was it? Feferi? Gamzee? Sollux?”

Tavros flinched slightly at the name ‘Gamzee.’ Bingo. 

“So it was the Makara guy, then,” Vriska said, nodding. “Good to know. So that leaves Feferi and Sollux.”

“If our pattern is correct, Either Sollux or Feferi must have been kidnapped on Aradia’s behalf,” Terezi continued. “Would you mind telling us which of them it was?”

Tavros’s mouth remained clamped shut.

Something occurred to Vriska. “Hey, wait. If either Sollux or Feferi was kidnapped to control Aradia, that means one of them wasn’t. So there must be another person being threatened by the kidnapper.’”

Terezi nodded approvingly. “An excellent deduction! Tavros, you’ve been awfully quiet. Care to shed some light on our inquiries?”

He shook his head quickly. “Uh, no. No. I can’t, I’m sorry.”

This kid wasn’t budging. It was time for a new tactic.

Vriska adjusted her tone from intimidatingly confident to sympathetic. “Sorry for scaring you so much. The kidnapper’s real powerful, we know. But there’s something you should think about before you write us off.”

Tavros tried and failed to not look interested. He was clearly desperate to tell them, but motivated by fear to stay silent. Shit. Vriska would have to make up a really spectacular lie to convince him he was safe. 

Or maybe she should do the opposite. Safety was nothing against the motivation of raw fear, after all. Why not up his dosage?

“You should just tell us what we need to know,” she said quickly. “You see…” She lowered her voice. “We’re part of a certain organization. We tend to get what we want. If you don’t comply, you’ll be wishing you were dead, trust me.” She had a sudden burst of inspiration. “Usually we get more into thievery. But we’re not against a little murder on the side. Hell, when it comes to crime rings, we’re the Black Queen.”

Tavros blanched. “Do you… They, uh, never said anything about a rival group! They said I wouldn’t, um, be in danger!”

Success!

“Oh, Tavros,” Vriska purred. “If they said you were in no danger, then why are you so scared of them? Do you really think they’d tell you everything?”

His fingers trembled as they fiddled with his wheels. “Are you trying to, uh, beat them to it?”

This was raising more questions than it was answering. Vriska played along anyway. She shrugged, saying only, “maybe.”

Terezi sniffed the air. “I smell a fracture. Are your walls cracking, Mr. Nitram? Ready to tell us what we want to know?”

The pressure was too much. Tavros’s breaths were shallow, his jaw rigid.

“They won’t find, uh, out I’m the one who said this?”

Terezi shook her head. “They’ll never know. Just tell us who is being controlled, and which hostage connects to them.”

“Karkat was first.” Tavros’s voice was monotone, and he stared into space as he quietly spoke. “They kidnapped Kanaya to, uh, get to him. Then they went after Sollux, and took Feferi, for the same reason. Then there was me. They, uh, took Gamzee right out of his house, I was there when it happened. Boxcars came crashing in through the wall, and then Gamzee was just… gone.”

During an interrogation, Terezi’s face was the picture of professionalism. Vriska was used to manipulation, and she could tell that Terezi was good at keeping her emotions guarded. It was a good thing she was so good at reading expressions. Otherwise she never would have seen the change in Terezi’s face.

Just for a moment, Terezi’s mouth twitched. Behind her glasses, her eyes went wide. It was the smallest of seizures, and it was gone in an instant, her expression smoothing out. But it had undoubtedly happened.

Tavros didn’t notice. “Aradia was last. She was, uh, a friend of Sollux’s, and they had him already, so they didn’t even need to kidnap anyone else to control her.” He looked at them fearfully. “I swear, I don’t know anything more.”

Vriska looked to Terezi, who shook her head almost imperceptibly. She scowled. They could get so much more information out of him!

“Okay, that’s enough,” said Terezi. “Look, we may be a crime syndicate, but we’ve got hearts. I know you don’t trust us. I know you’re scared. So we won’t push you anymore.” Vriska began to protest, but was cut off. “Watch your back, though, Nitram. The Crew aren’t the only dangers in Skaia City.”

She turned and practically bolted from the arcade, leaving Vriska to run after her. Tavros didn’t look at either of them. His eyes were fixed on the carpet, and his fists clenched. Vriska would have pitied him if he wasn’t so weak. On little lie, and he’d cracked? What a softy!

But she couldn’t think about that now. Something was wrong with Terezi. Why had she stopped the interview so suddenly? It wasn’t out of compassion, that was for sure. Vriska had seen her dig up a grave to confirm a hunch. She wouldn’t stop an interrogation just because she felt bad for the witness.

As soon as Vriska caught up with her, the disturbance became even more clear. Her step lacked its usual confidence, and she appeared to be actually using her cane. It tapped methodically across the tile floor of the mall, making not a single attempt to hit a stranger in the shins. 

“Terezi. What’s up.” Vriska snapped in front of her face when she didn’t respond. “Pyrope. Detective. Redglare. Bitch, what’s wrong? Your job is to be the hot detective chick, not the droopy girl. You’re freaking me out.”

“Boxcars,” she murmured. “Hearts Boxcars.”

“And what the fuck does that mean?”

Terezi stopped. “It means that we are in much, much deeper shit than we expected. I know who the kidnapper is. Or rather, who the kidnappers are.”

“Cut the bullshit, Terezi. What’s going on?” 

Terezi started walking again. “The Midnight Crew. They’re the most feared crime syndicate in Skaia City, excluding the one you just fabricated to convince that poor kid. No wonder he was terrified. I wouldn’t put it past the Crew to chop his head off just because.”

Vriska looked at her closely. “You’re scared of them.”

Terezi walked faster. She pushed the doors open, not holding them open for Vriska. She broke into a run across the parking lot.

“You idiot, you’re going to get run over!” Vriska shouted. She sprinted after the girl and caught hold of her hand, dragging her to a stop in front of her car. “Look, we’re partners in this, right? So you’ve got to fill me in. Now.”

A laugh bubbled up through Terezi’s lips. “Do you ever wonder how I started out fighting crime like this?”

Vriska shook her head, but she had the feeling Terezi wasn’t looking for an answer. 

“My mom was a lawyer. A prosecutor, actually. One day she took on this big murder case, and we both thought it was a grand old fucking time. Her name would be famous once she won!” Terezi shook her head bitterly. “The murderer’s name was Spades Slick. Actually, he wasn’t just a murderer. He’d committed just about every crime in the book. We should have known he wouldn’t be against killing court members to get out of punishment.”

Well, fuck. 

Vriska didn’t really know what to say to that. Damn it, she’d never been good at comforting people. She usually never wanted to. In fact, she made an effort to not have to. 

“He ended up getting away, because our legal system wasn’t good enough to keep him contained,” Terezi continued as if nothing had happened. “He was still relatively new to the whole crime business, so I ended up tracking him down. But I was new to the vigilante business, too… He figured stabbing my eyes out would keep me off his tail.” 

Well, _fuck._

“And he is now the head of the Midnight Crew.”

“Holy shit, Terezi,” Vriska said weakly. “So... what now?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Terezi snarled. “We’re hunting those fuckers down!”

Vriska blinked. She had thought Terezi might want to back out, given how scared she looked. “You want to get revenge?” She could get behind that. Actually, she could really enjoy that. Yeah! They’d show that Noir what they were made of!

“This isn’t about revenge.” Terezi yanked the car door open. “It’s about _justice._ ”

She slammed the door behind her. Vriska waited a few moments before climbing into the passenger seat.

***

Once they got back to their “headquarters,” Terezi finally relaxed. She shook off her anger and fear and refused to acknowledge any of it. Instead, she set straight to work.

Fresh newspaper clippings and bits of string littered the floor. Vriska was in charge of cutting them out, and Terezi pinned them to the walls, smearing them with scented liquids all the while. The scent of licorice hung thick in the air. 

Terezi rattled off profiles as she tied a piece of string between two pins. “Spades Slick, age thirty five, specialty: knife work. Convicted of first-degree murders, plural, second degree murder, armed robbery, and resisting arrest, among many other charges. Currently on the run along with the rest of his gang, ‘the Midnight Crew.’”

Her fingers dipped into a scent jar, only to scrape the bottom. She held out her hand, and Vriska placed a new one in it. She inhaled deeply.

“Get me the whipped cream one.”

Vriska raised an eyebrow. “Do you just have an index of every scent known to man?”

“Yes. It’s in the pantry. Next room down, on the right. I’m waiting!”

Vriska muttered something about lazy blind people under her breath as she went to fetch a fresh pot. She returned with a small white jar, labeled with the most sloppy handwriting she’d ever seen.

“Why are these labeled if you can’t read?” she asked. “Just out of curiosity.”

“Sollux used to do thih job wih me,” Terezi said, in the process of licking a black-and-white photograph. Vriska made a face.

“Gross, you don’t know where that’s been.”

“On the contrary! Ah foun’ it in a library recycle bin. The paper wuh still warm, so it couldn’ have gone too far before ih gah trashed. I’s perfec’ly sanitary.” Terezi wiped her mouth and held out her hand for the jar. 

“Hearing you rant about crime is bad,” said Vriska. “But watching you lick pictures is worse.”

Terezi ignored her and began setting up the next profile. “Clubs Deuce, age thirty. Specialty: grunt work. Convicted of second degree kidnapping and armed assault, suspected of arson. Member of the Midnight Crew.” She slathered an article Vriska had printed from the web with whipped-cream scent, then added a layer of licorice. She reached down and grabbed the cinnamon.

“Hearts Boxcars, age thirty seven. Specialty: also grunt work, but the heavier kind. Convicted of assault and battery, armed assault, and second degree murder, to name a few. Member of the Midnight Crew.”

Terezi crossed the room and reached into her desk drawer, rummaging around for something. “Vriska, do you know where my pine scent is?” 

“How should I know? I don’t live here,” Vriska responded. 

“It’s supposed to be right here,” Terezi said crossly. “I need it in order to set up right…” She began digging faster, taking the contents of the drawer out and placing them on the floor. A dragon plushie, a Nintendo DS of some model, several scent jars, a bag of cherry lollipops, a notebook. She kept unloading until she exclaimed with satisfaction. “Got it!”

She reached into the container, only to frown again. “Shit. It’s empty. God damn it, we’ll need to go and get more.”

“Do we really need to?” said Vriska. “It’s not that big a deal.”

“You don’t know how I operate!” Terezi insisted. “It’s a necessity. Come on, I’ll let you drive if you take me to get more.” She sat up and pushed herself into a standing position, heading for the door. 

Vriska sighed. “Fine. But if I’m the driver, we’re doing this my way, so don’t bother packing money.” She followed and waited for Terezi to open the door. 

“I wasn’t going to,” Terezi replied as she turned the handle. “We’re not going to a store.”

Vriska stopped. “Wait, where are we going, then?”

Terezi grinned. “You’ll see!”

“Why do I not like the sound of that?” Vriska muttered. 

“Because you’re uncomfortable with the idea of retrieving something without stealing, and you’ve learned by now that I’m a little bit crazy. But, no worries! This will be an adventure.”

Well, at least she was aware of her insanity.

***

“Stop here,” Terezi instructed.

Vriska raised an eyebrow as she pulled the car to a stop. “We’re in the middle of the fucking woods.”

“What better place to get pine scent?” Terezi hopped out and inhaled through her nose. “You hear that?”

“I like how you sniff and then make a comment on your hearing. Yes, it is clear that your senses are perfectly aligned.”

Terezi flicked Vriska on the arm. “I don’t know about you, but I’m capable of using more than one sense at once. Do you hear that?”

Vriska went quiet and listened to the sounds of the forest. Paradox Forest, it was called; she’d only been there a few times, on elementary school field trips. The purity of it all was a little astonishing. She had forgotten how… nature-y it was. Rustlings and the small sounds of animals filled the forest, and in the background, rushing water could be heard.

“Is there a river around here?” asked Vriska.

“Close. It’s a waterfall.” Terezi pulled down her glasses, her destroyed eyes squeezing shut in the sunlight. “It’s been a while since I’ve been here… Can you see a big pine tree, one that stretches way above all the others?”

Vriska scanned the canopy. Sure enough, in the distance, there was a gigantic pine. “I see it. Is that where we’re headed?”

Terezi nodded. She hesitated for a long moment, then, she held out her hand. “I don’t know this place well enough… Can you, uh?”

Vriska took her hand. “Sure thing.” She guided the blind girl through the trees in the direction of the pine. “Have you not come here since you went blind?”

Terezi was quiet for a while before answering. “I did, once. I’ve always liked it here, I couldn’t stay away. But it was different. Not necessarily in a bad way… Without my sight, my other senses were enhanced, and I could appreciate aspects of it that I hadn’t before. But I couldn’t find my way around. I didn’t end up staying long.”

There was one emotion Vriska had never felt, and it was pity. If people got themselves into bad situations, they should find a way out, not keep sulking like crybabies!

But this, this was different.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Terezi said wearily. “I don’t want you to feel bad for me. I just want you to help me solve this case, all right?”

“Of course. You’ve got to give those freaks a piece of your mind,” said Vriska. “You never should have let them walk away in the first place.”

Terezi snorted. “I was a little bit busy getting eye surgery, but you’re right. Of course I should have pursued them instantly. What’s a little bit of ocular obliteration? I should have drowned them with the blood seeping from my eyeballs.”

Vriska was relieved to see Terezi responding well. It was awkward enough not knowing what to say, she wouldn’t want to have made it worse with her sarcasm.

“Oh, there’s one more thing I should tell you about the Midnight Crew,” Terezi said suddenly. “Just so you don’t start feeling safe or anything. The members may be bad enough, but rumor has it there’s some lady in charge of them that’s a thousand times worse.”

“Pssh. I don’t believe in rumors,” Vriska said dismissively. “Tell me that again when I meet this bitch face-to-face.”

Terezi nodded. Vriska might have been imagining it, but she thought she felt the girl’s grip on her hand tighten.

“I would say that you should be scared of them… but honestly, it’s good if you’re not. Fear is immobilizing. I let it keep me away from them for years, just pretending I couldn’t track them down again, but not anymore. It’s time for justice.”

“Loving the motivational speech. Really, you should run for president.”

Terezi whacked her in the arm. “Shut up. Hey, I can hear the water better, we must be getting close.”

They passed through an opening in the trees, and suddenly, there was no ground.

Or, there was close to none. Vriska stopped just abruptly enough to avoid plummeting over the cliff’s edge. It wasn’t _too_ steep a drop, maybe fifty feet, but it was a surprise. The waterfall flowed steadily down from a ledge to her right. 

“You couldn’t have warned me that there was a cliff right here?”

“I would’ve loved to have seen your face if you walked over it!”

“I’m not going to comment on the irony of that statement.” Vriska looked around for the pine, and found it directly next to the waterfall, reaching up into the sky. “So, what now? We carve out the trunk and harvest the sap like maple syrup makers?”

“Pretty much.” Terezi let go of Vriska’s hand and cautiously made her way towards the tree.

“It’s right there,” Vriska called when she got close. Terezi threw out her arms and secured a grip on it, running her hands down until she found a groove in the bark. From her pockets she produced a swiss army knife and a small jar. She went to work sawing away until thick, fragrant sap oozed from the tree trunk. 

“Look at you,” Vriska said, amused. “A right little farmer.”

“I’d hit you if I were close enough,” Terezi grumbled. “Give me a minute.”

She waited until the jar was suitably filled, then capped it and stood. “So. How does it feel to have acquired something honestly?”

Vriska didn’t answer. She went over and took Terezi’s hand again, but immediately recoiled to wipe her hand on her jeans. “Gross, your fingers are all sticky!” Terezi sniggered.

“You’re one to talk about sticky fingers, Ms. Kleptomaniac.”

Vriska opened and shut her mouth. Damn it, that had actually been clever. “You’re a dork,” she said lamely.

“I’d say you were getting sappy, but…” Terezi giggled. She was probably imagining a look of disgust on Vriska’s face, and she was not wrong in doing so.

“I’ve had enough of you, you code-name-using, fruity-scented _dork_ ,” Vriska said. 

She was lying. She hadn’t had nearly enough.

Her hand remained clasped in Terezi’s until they reached the car. They had to separate to get in, and though it was hard to admit…

Vriska wouldn’t have minded if they hadn’t.


	5. A Team Effort

Terezi whacked her cane against an easel. 

“Vriska! Tell me everything you know about the Midnight Crew.”

Vriska furrowed her brow. “What? Why? You know way more about them than me.”

“It’s always good to look at things from a different perspective,” said Terezi.

Vriska smirked. “You would think that. You can’t look at anything at all.” Terezi rolled her eyes, a rather ironic action. Vriska laughed a little before continuing. “Um… There’s four dudes. Possibly a fifth, a woman. They all have dumb names and are wanted for a whole bunch of different crimes.”

“Such as?” Terezi prompted.

“Murder, blackmail…” Vriska wrinkled her nose, trying to remember. “More murder.”

“Hmm.” Terezi looked thoughtful. “Okay, what do you know about _us_?” 

“Are you kidding?” Vriska scoffed. “I know all there is to know about me!”

“I didn’t say just you, little Ms. Narcissist. I said _us._ ” 

Vriska ticked off facts on her fingers. “One, you are a blind girl with a tragic backstory and an obsessive need for justice. Two, you stalked me for a while. Don’t think I forgot that. Three, there’s a little bit of tension between us because you don’t like the fact that I enjoy stealing. Four, I cannot help said stealing. Five--”

“Wait!” Terezi’s hand flew up. “Stop there. You gave me an idea.” She pulled a fat red marker out of her pocket and began scribbling on the easel. 

“Do we have a plan now?” Vriska said curiously.

“Sort of.” Terezi paused in her scribbling. “We’re going to do what you do best: steal.”

“What?” Vriska tried to look over Terezi’s shoulder. “How will that help us? What are we stealing?”

“Let me explain. First of all, the old town legends are connected to this, that much is obvious. Jack and the Crew must be trying to find the rings for some reason. But if we snag the rings out from under him, we’ll have the upper hand!”

“Won’t that just make him want to kill us even more?” Vriska said warily. 

Terezi giggled. “Well, of course! But he already wants to kill me, to a point where it really can’t get any worse, so... We’ll be fine. And that brings me to my second point: before we can even think of going up against them, we’ll need to accomplish several things.” She stepped back from the easel with a flourish.

Vriska read it over. In messy red lettering, the paper read, “Aaron Samuels, ‘Hot’ Body, Army of Skanks.”

“You ever watched Mean Girls, Vriska?”

Vriska groaned. “Yes. Please tell me what the fuck is going on.”

“Just thought I’d make this a little more fun.” Terezi cleared her throat. “The Midnight Crew have several advantages against us. The hostages, of course, A.K.A. Aaron Samuels, because they’re who we want. The army of skanks, A.K.A. anyone they have under their control. And we can’t forget Spades Slick and his ‘hot body.’ That one was a little bit of a stretch, but it references his cybernetics.”

Vriska’s jaw dropped. “He has _cybernetics?_ What the hell? Those aren’t supposed to be a thing until, like, five years from now!”

“Being a high-profile criminal has its benefits,” Terezi said grimly. “Last time I saw him, he had a metal arm and a cyber-eye. Let’s pray he hasn’t gotten anything more since then.”

Vriska was about to make a comment about Terezi “seeing” Slick, but then realized that seeing was exactly what Terezi would have done. Spades Slick would have been the last thing she had ever seen. 

But there was no time for somber trains of thought! Vriska had a mission to be briefed on. 

“We’ll go after his little army first,” Terezi was saying. “Karkat, Tavros, Aradia, and Sollux. They should be easy to get onto our side. After all, it’s not as if they’re loyal to the Crew.”

Vriska was still a little hung up on the cybernetics. “How the hell do we get rid of a metal arm?”

“And a cyber-eye,” Terezi said cheerily. “That part of the plan’s still a little fuzzy, we can work it out once we get there. I just know we’ll need a signal jammer, a strong magnet, and a very sharp knife.”

If Vriska wasn’t on Terezi’s good side, she would have been more than a little terrified. She suddenly felt vulnerable sitting in front of the easel while Terezi stood tall. 

She pushed herself up and pulled out her phone. “So. Who are we starting with? We’ve got to go meet with somebody, right?”  
“Tavros. He’ll be the easiest to manipulate.” Terezi stepped over and sniffed at Vriska’s phone. “Do you have his number? I nabbed it online, if you need it.” Vriska shook her head, so Terezi gave it to her. “Call him, tell him whatever you need to get him to come over here.”

“Should I keep up the crime-syndicate lie?” Vriska asked.

“Sure. But drop it once he gets here. He might believe it, but I think the others will be less gullible. They deserve the truth.”

“Gotcha.” Vriska typed in the number, waiting as the phone began to ring. And ring. And ring.

Just when she thought the call would go to voicemail, Tavros picked up. “Uh, hello?”

“Tavros!” Vriska purred. “How lovely to talk to you again.”

“Uh, who is this, please?”

Vriska frowned. “You really don’t remember me? Wow, you must have some shitty memory. It’s me. Vriska.”

The line was silent for nearly ten seconds before Tavros hung up. Vriska scowled at her phone and tried again. It took six more calls before he picked up.

“What do you want?” he asked. His breathing was noticeably harder, and when he spoke, his voice wavered. “I, uh, told you everything I know. If you would leave me alone, please, I would, uh, appreciate it a lot?”

“Too bad!” Vriska said breezily. “I need you to come to 413 Hillsborough Drive, right now. Me and Terezi have some stuff to tell you. It’s not questions, so stop worrying. I can feel your stress through the phone and it’s giving me a headache.”

“I’m not worrying, I’m just--”

“Lighten up, dude! Are you coming, or not?” Vriska adjusted her tone to one someone might use when speaking to an insolent three-year-old. “You. Here. Noooooooow. This is very important, Tavros, so you need to come and listen. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“Yes,” Tavros said meekly. “I, uh, I’ll be there.”

“Good.” Vriska hung up and made a face. “Jeeeeeeez. What a tightass! Can’t even handle a little phone call.”

“He’s in a very difficult situation,” Terezi said mildly. “And we’re going to do everything we can to help.”

Vriska rolled her eyes. “Sure, I know you’re all about ‘the good of the people,’ or whatever. But I’m only in this because you blackmailed me, in case you forgot!”

Teezi frowned slightly. “You’re really not invested in this at all by now?”

Vriska shook her head. “Nope! I mean, it’s interesting and all. But I don’t really care if these saps are in a bad situation. I just don’t want to go to jail.”

Terezi looked a little disappointed, and Vriska sighed. “Look. If you think you’re magically going to turn me into a good person with this, you’re wrong. I’m blowing this joint the second this case is through.”

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Vriska felt a little strange. Of course she would be leaving after the case was over. That had always been her plan. But the idea of leaving Terezi behind, as if they had never met, was just… weird. How could Vriska just forget about the crazy girl who’d disrupted her life with a dragon plushie, a threat, and a rabbit hole deeper than she had ever fallen down?

Not that she’d ever show her misgivings. Her job was to be aloof and a little bit scary, and part of that job description was not admitting that she’d gotten attached to someone. 

There came a knock on the door, and Vriska jumped to answer it. She didn’t want to deal with Terezi. Damn it, she couldn’t help the fact that she lacked morals! It was just something her partner would have to accept.

She opened the door to find Tavros, his wheelchair perched precariously on the top step. She was tempted to push him over, but to do so would get Terezi pissed, so Vriska begrudgingly opened the door and allowed Tavros to wheel inside.

She directed him to the investigation room where Terezi awaited. Inside, it was the usual mess-- a little hectic, yes, but not terribly frightening. Tavros relaxed slightly as he entered. 

“So, uh, what’s this all about?”

Terezi sat on the floor in front of him. “Well, I’ve got a confession to make. Neither me nor my partner are part of any insidious organization. We lied to you in order to find out more about the Midnight Crew and what their objectives are.”

Tavros blanched. “You _are_ cops?”

“No, no. Never.” Terezi seemed revolted by the very prospect. “I think the police force counts as an insidious organization. We’re… Hmm, what’s the right word? I guess ‘vigilantes’ will have to do. Sollux Captor is one of my best friends, and I have a history of sorts with the Crew, so I took interest in this case. I want to help you out.”

“Uh,” Tavros stammered. “While I’m glad that you want to help, and, uh, I’m glad that you aren’t actual criminals, I still can’t tell you anything. If you know the Crew, then, you probably know the, uh, type of things they’ll do to me if I... “

Terezi pursed her lips. “Now, Mr. Nitram. Allow me to explain you something.”

She stood up and drove her cane into the carpet next to her in a defiant pose. “You may not want to assist us, because you believe we will do you more harm than good. But fear not! I’ve gone up against Spades Slick personally and lived to tell the tale.” She briefly slid down her glasses, allowing her scarred eyes to be seen. Tavros gaped.

“You’re probably thinking, ‘If she fought him and ended up that injured, there’s no way I can do it,’ right?” Terezi shook her head. “Incorrect! If you help us, you will not be required to fight. You will merely need to pledge your allegiance to us, rather than him, and report anything you hear to us.”

“I can’t,” Tavros said. “I’m sorry. You just demonstrated how, uh, brutal they can be, and it’s not just me who I need to protect. They’ve got my friend. If they, uh, get wind of me helping you, they might hurt him.”

Terezi shook her head again, more firmly this time. “We won’t let that happen. I learned from my mistakes after I fought. This time, nobody is going to get hurt, and the Midnight Crew will be brought to justice.”

Tavros hesitated. “But you, uh… You can’t promise that.”

“I would agree with you,” Vriska cut in. “But you don’t know this girl. I’ve seen her pull leads out of thin air. Over the past four days, I’ve conducted interrogations, dug up a grave, and staked out a guy’s house. I never expected to do any of those things, but hey, here I am. Right now, you don’t expect to be saved. But hey. Here you are. Terezi’s offering you the chance of a lifetime, and if you have any fucking sense in that thick head of yours, you’re going to take it.”

Tavros cowered under Vriska’s harsh tongue. “Uh, but you just, admitted that it’s different for you! You, uh, know your way around this stuff. I personally think that if, uh, something is very risky, then it is not something I should do! Trusting strangers who lied to me about who they are, uh falls under that category.”

“Okay, you’ve got me on that one.” Vriska shrugged. “But if you’d rather be controlled by a literal Mafia than let two people who know what the fuck they’re doing help you, that’s your loss. Remember, if we mess up while trying to help, we’re just as dead as you. If you don’t accept our help… You’ll probably be the only one who ends up dead.”

“The Midnight Crew considers anyone under their control to be expendable,” Terezi said, just as bluntly. “They won’t let you go, no matter what they tell you. Take our help or leave it. We’re your one way out of this alive.”

Tavros looked between the two of them, helpless. “I… I don’t know what to do. Can I, uh, think about it?”

“The sooner you help us, the sooner we can save your friend,” said Vriska. “Make a choice.”

“I can’t. Not on my own. I, uh, can I call someone?”

“Who?” Vriska said suspiciously.

“Just Karkat. I, uh, I need his input for this.” Tavros pulled a cell phone from his pocket, then let Vriska watch as he found Karkat’s number in his contacts.

“I should’ve known you’d be an Android user,” Vriska muttered. Tavros rolled his eyes as the phone rang.

“I, uh, I like Andr-- hey, Karkat. I need your help with something. Can you, uh, can you come to 413… What is it again?” 

“Hillsborough Drive,” Vriska finished. “Come quick as you can!”

She could barely hear Karkat’s voice on the other line. “Who the fuck is that? Tavros? What have you gotten yourself into now, I swear to fucking God.”

“Please come over quickly,” Tavros mumbled. “Bye.”

Karkat was at the door in minutes. Vriska opened it to him bent over, gasping for breath. His bike was lying on its side in the middle of Terezi’s lawn. When he looked up and saw Vriska’s face, there was murder in his eyes.

“You,” he growled. “I fucking knew it.”

“Why are you looking so mad? I thought you _wanted_ us to find your friend,” Vriska said. “What was it? Kanaya?”

Karkat bristled. “I-- well, yeah, I’d like that, but it isn’t fucking possible. I was stupid to talk to you. I knew you’d just end up over your heads, and you’ll probably get all of us arrested. I didn’t think things through. But now I’ve learned from my mistake, and I’m here to pick up Tavros, thank you very fucking much.”

“Chill out,” Vriska said boredly. She waved him inside. “He’s this way.”

Karkat started down the hall, but Vriska pointed at him and snapped. “Shoes. Off.”

He snarled, but left his sneakers there on the welcome mat. 

“Hey, Karkat,” Tavros called. Karkat hurried to the room where his friend awaited.

“Dude! Let’s go, you can’t stay here.”

“No, wait.” Tavros chewed his lip. “These guys know about the Crew, Karkat. They know how to fight them. I think, uh, if we worked with them, we might actually have a chance.”

“Nope.” Karkat shook his head. “No, no, no. Don’t start getting hopeful. If you start getting hopeful, you’ll let your guard down, and these fuckers will get us killed. We can’t escape the Crew. That’s a fucking fact. No matter what shit these chumps are spewing from their facial orifices, they can _not_ help us. Tell them thanks for nothing, and then let’s be on our way.”

“That was a lovely spiel,” said Terezi. “But I have to disagree.” She took off her glasses and tossed them to the side. “You’re lying to yourself. When we came around asking about Kanaya, you wanted our help. Sure, you might have reconsidered afterwards, because you were scared. But deep down, underneath the fear, you need us. Think about it. Wouldn’t you rather risk it for freedom than live your life doing the Crew’s dirty work?”

“I’ve been doing dirty work since I was born,” Karkat snapped. “It’s the only way I can make a living. Who I do it for doesn’t really matter.”

“But it does. Do all the people you sell drugs to threaten to kill your loved ones if you don’t comply?” Terezi looked at him seriously. “This is a big fucking deal. I promise you, on my life, that I will get you out of this.”

“Your life must not be worth much to you, then,” Karkat sneered.

Vriska had had enough.

“All right!” she shouted. “You listen the fuck up. You’re an angry, scared little dwarf, I get that. But it’s clouding your vision. Yeah, there’s a chance that you’ll get hurt if you try to rebel. So what? This isn’t only about you. Look at Tavros. Look at Sollux and Aradia. None of you want to be working for the Midnight Crew, and I’m sure none of your friends are enjoying being held hostage. You can’t keep going like this. You need to swallow your pride, listen to my friend, and _make a change._ Trust her, if not me. She fought Slick once before, and she’s doing it _again._ I think that tell you all you need to know.”

There was a long silence.

“Vriska,” Terezi said with a smile. “We might make a good person of you yet.”

Vriska rolled her eyes. “Shut it, Pyrope. Vantas? What’s your choice?”

Karkat sighed deeply. His murderous expression had not softened, but he spit out a concession.

“Fine. We’re all going to die and it’ll be your fault, but, fine. Running mysterious errands does get a little boring, I guess. I’d like my life back.”

“Perfect!” Terezi said brightly. “Now, let’s get the gang together.”

***

The investigation room looked different when it was full of people. The mess seemed a little less chaotic, and a little more homely. 

Aradia, Karkat, and Tavros sat in a circle. Vriska watched, amused, as Terezi hugged Sollux. “You little shit, why didn’t you tell me what happened? You know I would have helped!”

Sollux shrugged. “And you know how I feel about FF. I didn’t want her getting hurt.”

Terezi huffed. “Well, it’s good to see that you’ve come around.”

“Ehehe, thee that I’ve come around? I’m not thure _thee_ ith the right word--”

“Shut up!”

Terezi planted herself in the center of the circle. “Hey, everybody! I can’t express how glad I am you’ve decided to work with me. Let me introduce myself. I’m Terezi Pyrope, and that’s Vriska Serket. We’re not cops, we just have a special interest in beating up the Midnight Crew. We’re going to get your friends back!”

“So the sooner you give us information, the sooner we can help,” Vriska added.

Aradia raised her head. “What do you need to know?”

“Their base of operations,” said Terezi. “Their goals, their strategies, what they’ve threatened you with. Really, anything you can give us is helpful.”

“They want to find the rings of the Black and White Queens.”

Terezi nodded. “But why? Why are they so convinced that the rings are real?”

“Thpades Thlick ith apparently a dethendent of the Black Queen,” Sollux said. His tone made it clear that he was skeptical. “He wantth that ring bad, but he’th making all of uth to do the job for him. If you athk me, if thomething’th your ‘birthright,’” he made finger quotes, “you thould do the work yourthelf.”

“Why?” Terezi repeated. “Why would he make you do it for him?”

Sollux grimaced. “Dunno. Gueth he wath jutht too lazy to do it himthelf. I’m not even thuppothed to know thith much, but he put one of the Crew memberth in charge of each of uth, and mine wath a dipthit, tho he let a lot thlip.”

Heads turned to focus on Sollux. Terezi sat down before saying, “Go on.”

“They’ve been thearching for the ringth for a long time. I gueth they heard Feferi talking about them thomewhere, and they thnatched her up to thee if the had any real info. They heard about me from her, and they thought, gee whiz! The lady’th got a hacker friend? How convenient. We thould make him work for uth.” Sollux scowled. “Then thit jutht ethcalated, they found out about all of uth through the grapevine, and bam. Thith happened.”

“What did they have you looking for, specifically?” Terezi asked.

“Anything. Recordth of the Queenth. People who might know about them.” Sollux shrugged. “We didn’t find anything.”

“I did,” Aradia murmured. Sollux whipped around to face her.

“What? I didn’t know that!”

She looked at him reproachfully. “I doubt Clubs Deuce would have the presence of mind to relay any pertinent information to you. Is that really a surprise?” Sollux shook his head, and she continued. “I found an old journal that belonged to the White Queen herself. The library didn’t even know it was there, it wasn’t catalogued. It was just kind of tucked away.”

“Damn. What did it say?”

“She didn’t actually dispose of the rings herself. She gave them to one of her employees to take care of. I was working on tracing the lineage when these two arrived on the scene.” Aradia motioned to Vriska and Terezi. “I’m glad they did. I doubt the Crew would set any of us free once we were finished, and I don’t like the idea of the rings falling into their hands.”

“This is perfect,” Terezi said triumphantly. “All we have to do is beat them to it!”

“And then we’ll beat them up and save the damsels in distress,” Vriska grinned. 

Karkat still looked grumpy. “I see a lot of things that could go wrong with this plan. What if they find out?”

“We won’t let that happen,” Terezi assured. “You all can keep going about work as normal, but instead of telling them your advancements, you’ll tell us. There’s still a lot we have to do. We need to deactivate Slick’s cybernetics and figure out how to storm the base. But this is a lot to take in, so I think I’ll let you all go now.”

“Wow. Let us go. What a privilege,” Karkat said sarcastically. “As if we’re required to be here. You can count on the fact that I won’t be coming back. This is fucking stupid.”

He stood up and left the room. After a moment, Vriska heard the door slam. 

Sollux snickered. “He’ll be back.” He held up his hand, and Terezi slapped it in a high-five. “Thith ith a good plan. I thould have come to you earlier, thorry for being thuch a dumbath. The plan’th got holeth, thure, but your planth alwayth do. And they alwayth work.” He gave her a quick salute before standing and following Karkat.

“I guess you’ve, uh, convinced me,” Tavros said feebly. He watched his companions exit. “I’m, um, really scared about this, but I’m going to help, because everyone else is, and because I, uh, I want Gamzee to be okay. I want everybody to be okay. Thank you.” He struggled a little bit as he attempted to wheel his chair across the carpeted floor, but Sollux reappeared to help him. 

Vriska and Terezi were left alone with Aradia. She was a little strange to be alone with. Her presence was very small, and if Vriska closed her eyes, it would seem like the quiet girl wasn’t eve there. 

“I do appreciate the chance you’ve given us,” Aradia said. “I never liked the idea of compliance, but I couldn’t get anyone to break away with me. I think I could have convinced Sollux, but Karkat and Tavros wouldn’t agree, and we could not manage it with only two. Thank you for changing their minds.”

“Fear is a powerful weapon,” Terezi agreed. “I can see why they were against it before. I’m just glad they listened… You take care. Keep tracing that lineage, all right?”

“Of course.” Aradia hardly seemed to touch the ground as she rose. “I’ll do everything I can. I want to make them pay.”

She walked smoothly out, and a shiver went down Vriska’s spine.

She’d been trying to ignore the feeling the entire time, but it refused to be ignored. Karkat, Sollux, Aradia, Tavros. Each of them had some element, some quality that was so infuriatingly _familiar._ It was like an itch Vriska couldn’t scratch.

“I think this really might work,” Terezi said, interrupting Vriska’s train of thought. She pushed her glasses back onto the bridge of her nose, satisfied. “We’ve got work to do, though. And we need to catalogue all this!”

Vriska groaned. “Oh, no. I am _not_ helping you with that smelling shit again--”

“Get me chocolate, cherry, mustard, and mulled wine!”

_”Mulled wine?”_

“For Aradia. She has a sophisticated scent.”

“You’ve got an insane scent,” Vriska muttered. Terezi only winked. 

“Don’t judge, Ms. Blueberry. You know you love it. Or, at least, I know you do.”

“You don’t know shit.”

Terezi giggled. “Yes I do. Want to know how?” She waited for Vriska to answer.

“... Fine,” Vriska grumbled. “How do you know.”

“Earlier. You called me your friend.”

Terezi’s smile was not predatory, not toothy. It was genuine. Vriska opened her mouth to make a retort, struggling to find words.

“Fuck you, Pyrope!”

“Only if you buy me dinner first.”

 _”Terezi!”_ Terezi’s sniggering did not cease as Vriska shoved her over. “Shut your mouth!”

Terezi blew her a kiss. “Only for you, you endearingly stupid pickpocket.”

Vriska shoved her again. “You… stupid blind justice girl.”

Terezi laughed. A little bit of the scratchy edge was taken off, making it a real laugh, instead of her usual witch’s cackle. Vriska was suddenly struck by how… pretty it was. 

Well, fuck. Terezi was really pretty. Vriska didn’t know what to think about that realization.

But she did know that once the case was closed, maybe she wouldn’t leave. Maybe Terezi would be a friend she could keep. Though she was more than a bit crazy, she was constant. She was reliable. And she certainly seemed to put up with Vriska. She seemed to like her. 

Maybe that would be enough to make Vriska stay.


	6. A Duplicitous Queen

The atmosphere of Terezi’s house was strangely subdued over the next few days. Vriska found herself a frequent guest, spending more time at her partner’s house than at her own. The air crackled with unspoken excitement, neither of them daring to voice the anticipation they felt.

It was revealed when Terezi’s cell phone rang loudly from its place on the kitchen counter, and both of them fell on their faces trying to reach it first. 

“Hello?” Vriska gasped, holding Terezi’s face away as she tried to listen in. “Aradia? Yeah, that’s great. Where?... Uh-huh. No, no! I’ve got it! We’ve got this… Let me get one.”

She snapped her fingers at Terezi. “Get me a pen and a post-it, quick.” Terezi stuck out her tongue and returned with a worn-down pencil and piece of scrap paper.

“That’ll do.” Vriska scribbled something down onto the paper. “Thanks, Aradia. We’ll get back to you. No! Just leave it to us, I’m sure we’ll have everything we need to know by this evening.” She hung up, her face shining. “Aradia found the only living descendant of the White Queen’s employee who disposed of the rings. Shall we go and have a chat with her?”

Terezi responded by pulling her keys out of her pocket and hitting a button. Outside, her car chirped. 

Vriska grinned. “I agree. Let’s go!”

***

“She goes by PM, apparently,” Vriska whispered. She pressed the doorbell, and somewhere in the house, a small chime sounded. “Aradia said we could be honest about our intentions when asking for information. As long as she can see we’re the good guys, we’ll be fine.”

Behind the door there came the quiet thump of footsteps, then the rattle of a lock unfastened. The door swung open to reveal a tall woman looking down at them curiously. Her skin was pale, and what Vriska could see of her hair was tucked back into a grey bandana. She looked to be in her forties, maybe fifties. “Well, hello there. I wasn’t expecting visitors. Who might you be?”

“Our names are Terezi Pyrope and Vriska Serket,” said Terezi.”And we’re here to talk about the White Queen.”

PM’s face instantly closed off. “I’m sorry, but I can’t help you.” The door began to swing closed, but Terezi held out her hand.

“Wait! Ma’am, we don’t want to steal the ring or anything. In fact, we’re trying to stop someone else from doing just that. Just hear us out.”

The woman hesitated.

“All we want to do is talk,” Terezi said softly. “The group we are attempting to stop are the very definition of evil. Four people are being held hostage. We need your help.”

The door opened again, and Vriska heard PM’s footsteps retreat. “Come in. I’ll see what I can do.”

Terezi and Vriska stepped inside, shutting the door behind them. Terezi sniffed the air and nodded with approval. Vriska performed her equivalent of the gesture by looking around.

The house was a little messy, from what she could see, but well cared for. They walked through the hall and Vriska could see piles of what looked like letters in every room. What little furniture there was looked old and worn, creating the atmosphere of a space long loved. 

“In here!” PM called. Vriska followed the sound of her voice and found the woman waiting in a small room resembling an office. She was sitting on a stool, and motioned for Vriska and Terezi to take the two available chairs.

“Let me explain myself,” Terezi said as she sat down. “The group I mentioned, they are known as the Midnight Crew. Their suspected leader is called Spades Slick. He claims to be a descendant of the Black Queen... You should probably know that this is a man who is on the run from multiple counts of murder. He wants both of the rings, and badly. So badly that he kidnapped three people and is currently manipulating four more.”

PM nodded slowly, taking in the information. “I think I’ve heard that name before. Wasn’t he in the papers a few years ago?”

Terezi’s smooth expression faltered, just enough for Vriska to notice. “Yes. That was when he was on trial… After that, he escaped, and sort of dropped out of the public eye. But that doesn’t mean he’s been any less active.”

“He definitely sounds like a horrible person. But I’m afraid he won’t have any luck trying to find those rings,” PM said with a gentle smile. “Not the White Queen’s, at least. My family keeps all records of her well-guarded.”

Terezi leaned in. “So the rings are real?”

“Of course. They were never as important as the legends say, nor as priceless, though that’s not to say they aren’t valuable.” PM shrugged. “They definitely are. But all the excitement around them is mere exaggeration, I’m afraid.”

“That won’t stop Slick from wanting them,” Terezi said darkly. “Believe me, whatever protection you have won’t be enough.”

PM still seemed unbothered. “Then what do you propose I do? If nothing can protect the ring, then there is no way it can be more safe, correct?”

“I didn’t say nothing could protect it. The best idea would be to relocate it, somewhere where it can’t be traced. No banks. No safes. Honestly, it would be safest for you if you moved out of the city.”

PM frowned. “Well, I certainly can’t do that. And I think you overestimate my degree of knowledge. I’m confident that these people won’t find that ring, because, well, I don’t know where it is myself.”

Terezi raised her eyebrows. “Wait, really?”

“Yes, really. I’ve looked before, of course, just as many people have. I suspected you were hunters at first. I apologizing for judging by a glance, but people don’t normally show up on my doorstep asking about the White Queen,” PM said. “I never had any luck in my search. No, wherever the ring is, it’s a well-kept secret. I have enough documentation to confirm its existence, but nothing more.” 

“Can we see the documents?” Vriska asked.

PM hesitated. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

“If there’s nothing more than a confirmation in them, it shouldn’t be that big a deal,” Vriska pressed. “Please? This could help our investigation a lot.”

PM stood up. “Well… You’ve certainly demonstrated your need.” She turned to an overstuffed shelf in the corner of the room and began moving its contents to the floor. Once it was clear enough, she reached back and pulled out a dusty box. She popped off the lid and carefully sorted through the contents. 

“This was the White Queen’s journal,” she said with a note of reverence. She extracted a small book, bound in cloth and held shut with a string. After a moment of hesitation, she handed it to Terezi.

Terezi held it up to her nose and sniffed. “Smells like… vanilla and linen.”

“She’s blind,” Vriska explained. “Here, let me see.”

“Oh, my goodness. I’m sorry.” PM cast a guilty look towards Terezi and gave the book to Vriska, who opened it to the first page. It was written in a spindly, elaborate handwriting, and it took her a few moments to decipher the flowing script. 

_Every empire, every town. We all have our rises and falls, and I fear that the golden age of Prospit may be drawing to a close. Soon enough we will be pushed aside. We will be ousted, all for the violaceous age of Derse to rise. I fear that I can do nothing to stop it. My repute is one of a wise woman, a seer of the future, but this idea is a falsehood. Never in all my years did I suspect myself and she would become enemies. I despair to think of what she has become. A harridan, a schemer, a coward. Oh, Ebony, when did your soul become as dark as your image?_

_This brewing storm will come to a head all too soon._

Vriska flipped a few pages ahead.

 _Yet again, my persona has betrayed me. I am no Seer. I have been blinded by bias and misplaced trust. Until now, I have been willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. And all along, as I gifted her with trust she did not deserve, she has been conspiring for power. My vision was simply too clouded to see it. No… That’s wrong. The clouds allowed me to see, but they enshrouded my heart. I could not_ believe _what I saw._

_She vies to steal my ring. To do so would be to take complete control. Perhaps, in another time, she would have seen the logical path. If she had simply asked, I may well have relinquished my duties. I have never felt suited to dominion. I would see her as a worthy leader, and gladly forsake my position in order to pledge my support. But she has destroyed any chance of cordiality between us. My people are being murdered in cold blood._

Vriska’s brow furrowed. “What was the Black Queen’s real name?”

“Ah, are you wondering who ‘Ebony’ is? Yes, it’s her. And the White Queen was Ivory,” PM answered.

“This makes it sound like they were friends.”

“They were,” PM said sadly. “The best of friends. Sisters, more like, though not by blood. Ebony’s betrayal was a bitter one.”

Vriska looked back to the journal. She flipped ahead a few pages, and was surprised to see that the entries cut off about halfway through the book. She settled on an entry a few pages before the end.

_If there is one thing I wish to avoid, it is war. The citizens of Prospit are a gentle populace, not at all like the battle-hardened folk of Derse. They would not stand a chance in a fight. I wish for all of this to end with no blood spilt, though it may not be possible. Acquiescence lies ahead._

The entry ended without another word, but the next was one of the longest Vriska had seen.

_My youngest sister is far braver than I. I turned to her for help, and she willingly accepted the tasks that I assigned. To steal Ebony’s ring. And to hide mine away, somewhere no one will ever find it. I do not know where she intends to hide it. I do not know if she will be safe in Ebony’s palace. Oh, my Peregrine, do make yourself scarce. I could not bear it if she took you from me as well._

_Several hours have passed since I last set my pen to this page. Peregrine was successful in her mission. Ebony’s ring is thieved and concealed, mine along with it. I do hope this will end our strife. When the people see that there is no true leader, perhaps they will elect a pair better suited to rule, a pair less stricken with dramatics. Perhaps they will see the full foolishness of our two towns… I would rejoice the day we united as one. We have no real reason to quarrel. We should be together, one town, one people, no malice. Is this so hard to accept? I would like to see a single leader elected, someday. A democratic society headed by someone firmly grounded, with a strict sense of right and wrong. Someone so very different from myself._

_I must admit that I am curious as to where the rings have gone. But, faithful as she is, dear Peregrine refused to divulge the secret even to me. For the sake of us all, she said. I couldn’t be more proud. If I could choose the next ruler, I do believe she would be my selection._

_But her poetic nature did get the best of her. She told me this much: the two rings are hidden separately, as an extra precaution. One is high, where her namesake flies, where hopes are whispered and metal cries. One is low, where water flows, where the fir stands tall and the lonely go._

_If I did not select her as a ruler, I would select my sister to be a scribe. Peregrine Mendicant; royal poet. It has a nice ring, does it not? A shame she’s so devoted to the postal service._

Vriska snorted. The next entry appeared to be the last.

_Ebony’s corruption runs deeper than I ever could have believed._

_Her brother is on my tail. I cannot believe she would set him to this, she knows of his cruelty. She once called me sister. Now she eats her words, and our bond will lay dying as Jack’s knife inevitably pierces my heart._

_I pray that this battle will end with me._

It ended there.

Vriska paged through the rest of the journal, searching for any last scribblings. Her search grew frantic until she realized that there was nothing. Not even a dot in the margins. “It just ends there?” she cried. “She never wrote anything more? What the fuck, that isn’t fair! So, what, did this Jack dude just end up killing her?”

PM nodded gravely. “That’s how I interpret the situation, yes.”

“Can someone please fill me in?” Terezi deadpanned. “Blind girl over here.”

Vriska relayed the story to her friend, who nodded thoughtfully. “I see… Peregrine Mendicant, huh? Were you named for her?” She directed her question to PM, who blushed.

“Yes. It does get a bit awkward toting around a name like ‘Peregrine,’ though, so I usually shorten it.”

“This must be the same journal Aradia found in the library,” Terezi said, to Vriska this time. PM frowned.

“Oh, yes… I had forgotten there was a version there. My mother had it placed, she was always enthusiastic about public works. If this situation is as dire as you say, I should probably have that copy removed.”

“Yes, you should. Hmm… One is high, where her namesake flies,” Terezi recited. “Where hopes are whispered and metal cries. Got any ideas?”

Vriska and PM both shrugged. “I guess we’ll have to think back to high school lectures on symbolism,” Vriska said. 

“I guess we will.” Terezi linked arms with Vriska, then turned to PM with a smile. “Thank you so much for your help. I promise that you’ll see Spades Slick’s name in the papers again soon, but this time, he’ll be behind bars. You don’t know how big a help you’ve been.”

“I do like to be helpful,” PM smiled. “Thank you for the opportunity to be a part of this. I must say, it’s all rather exciting!”

“It is,” Terezi agreed. “And now we’ve got to go and continue the excitement. So, thanks again, and I’m sure we’ll be in touch.” She waved, then pulled Vriska down the hall and out the door.

Once they were climbing into her car, she paused. “Y’know, Serket, it was kinda cute how outraged you got that there was no proper ending.” Vriska flushed angrily, and Terezi let out a brief cackle. “Still sure you aren’t emotionally invested in this case?”

“I enjoy history,” Vriska said icily. 

“Uh-huh. I bet you’ll cry over it tonight. Oh, what a tragedy, how Ivory was betrayed!” Terezi flopped across the seat and onto Vriska’s lap. “Admit it. You’re so into this!”

Vriska grimaced. “Weeeeeeeell… Maybe a little. But only a little!”

Terezi made herself comfortable, staring up at Vriska. “Is it okay if I tell you something kind of… intense? I think it’s high time I admitted this to you.”

Vriska tilted her head. “Uh, yeah? Shoot. If we’re about to have a big talk, though, you might want to turn the car off.”

Terezi nodded and sat up, pulling the vehicle back into park mode. She turned to face Vriska and took a deep breath. “So… Remember how I told you that there was something the police didn’t know? Something that linked the victims together?”

“Yeah.”

“And how there are rumors of a woman that heads the Midnight Crew?”

“... Yeah?” Vriska’s eyes narrowed. “Where is this going?” She could practically feel Terezi’s heart rate jump. 

“Well, it was… I thought that woman was you, Vriska,” Terezi said quietly. “You were the missing link. All the people involved in the case… They were people you’ve stolen from. It was just the kidnapped ones first, that’s how I found you, all those months ago. But then I realized that it was Karkat and Tavros and Aradia, too. You’d come into contact with every one of them. And, y’know… That didn’t really make you look innocent.”

Vriska’s jaw dropped.

“I don’t suspect you anymore,” Terezi said quickly. “I haven’t for a while. I’ve only known you for, like, a week and a half, but I know you’d never be a part of something like the Crew. You’re not that type of person. Sorry for not telling you about this sooner.”

“You thought I was a criminal mastermind?” A laugh bubbled up from Vriska’s throat. “Christ, Pyrope, do you even know me?”

“I do now!” Terezi looked anxious. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking that being a criminal mastermind would be fucking _awesome_ and I’m sorry that your assumption was wrong.” Vriska frowned. “This certainly explains why everyone looked so familiar to me.”

“We still need to figure out how it connects. Obviously you aren’t behind this, but there are no coincidences.” Terezi started the car again. “If you aren’t the planner, you must be the pawn. They’ve got plans for you. I started working with you to keep my enemies close, but now, all I want to do is help my friend.”

The look of fierce protectiveness on her face as she backed the car up brought a flare of warmth to Vriska’s heart. Affection, she believed it was called. It was an unfamiliar feeling, but she was pretty sure she liked it. 

At that moment, Terezi’s phone rang, and she passed it off to Vriska.

“Hello?”

“Hello.” It was Aradia again. Vriska rushed to inform her of what they had learned. 

“Okay, so, we found the lady, and she had a journal that I think was the same one you found at the library.”

“Yes, I suspected as much,” said Aradia in her quiet manner. “Was it complete? The library’s copy was missing the last few pages, I’m afraid.”

“Yeah!” Vriska said excitedly. “It had a riddle which should lead us to the rings if we can solve it!”

“Excellent. I have just received correspondence from Diamonds Droog, and I thought it would be appropriate to tell you. He’s requested that I come visit with him… He’s always taken an oddly parental attitude around me, it’s quite creepy. But I have directions to the Midnight Crew’s headquarters for you.” 

Vriska tapped Terezi’s shoulder to indicate that she should pull over. “Uh-huh. Shall we call in the cavalry, then?”

“No,” Aradia responded. “He specifically requested me, and it would be suspicious if I decided to bring Karkat, Tavros and Sollux along on a whim. No. You and Terezi will come with me, and that will be all.”

Vriska nodded. She was used to working in solitude, or, more recently, in small groups. “Do we go right now?”

“Of course.” Aradia relayed the directions, and Vriska repeated them to Terezi, who altered their course. Eventually they pulled up in front of a dingy-looking storefront, outside which Aradia waited.

“Keep driving down the road,” she instructed. “You don’t want your car staying around here. Get somewhere more populated, then walk back.”

Vriska complained a bit about the effort required to walk down city blocks, but was shushed by Terezi. The two parked in somewhere that Vriska deemed “safe,” then walked back to meet Aradia.

“You must stay out of sight when we are inside,” she murmured. “I have asked Sollux to alter the security cameras, and the Crew would never expect a cyber-attack by one of their own, so you should be all right to walk around. But you must not be found by any of the Crew members.” She led them inside and through to the back of the store. Behind a rack of coats, a door was concealed. Aradia pushed it open to reveal a long hall. 

“I have to meet with Droog. All the Crew offices and more dangerous rooms are on the right, everything else is on the left. Be as quiet and inconspicuous as you can,” Aradia whispered. “I wish you luck. Karkat will kill you if we come all this way and don’t find Kanaya.”

Terezi suppressed a giggle. “Got it. Good luck to you too.”

Aradia walked away silently, her feet dragging in a way that suggested a glide. She disappeared around a corner, and Vriska and Terezi were left alone behind enemy lines. 

“I guess we start searching now,” Vriska said. She started off down the hall and rested her fingertips on the knob of the first door on the left.

With a gentle creak, she opened the door.

It was a storeroom. Nothing but crates and, um, was that a porn magazine? Vriska shut the door. 

“Nothing there,” she hissed to Terezi. 

They continued in this fashion for quite some time before the hall branched into three paths. “Well, fuck,” said Vriska. “Aradia didn’t say anything about forks. Do you figure we should keep to the left, or try the middle?”

“Why not both?” Terezi replied. “I’ll take the left, you take the middle.”

Vriska very nearly groaned. “Pyrope, that is just about the worst idea you’ve ever had.”

“Nah, the worst idea I ever had was to use habanero peppers as a taste for my notebook. Every time I licked it my tongue would burn like hell!”

“Don’t change the subject! We can’t get separated in here.” Vriska realized her volume was raising, so she took a moment to calm down before speaking again. “Look, if we can’t find each other, we’re boned. You’re staying right by my side. Got it?” 

Terezi stuck out her tongue. “Aradia said the left side was the safe side. _You’ll_ be the one at risk if you take the left, not me, and I know it’s not yourself you’re worried about.” She pulled out her cell phone and dangled it in front of Vriska’s face. “I’ll keep in touch. There probably won’t be anything, and I’ll come right back to you in a few minutes.”

Vriska sighed. “Compromise. You’ve got ten minutes, then you meet me back here, okay?”

“Aye-aye, captain.” Terezi ruffled Vriska’s hair before setting off down the left branch.

Vriska went down the middle, moving as quietly as she could. 

There were fewer doors in this corridor, and those which Vriska opened held nothing but darkness. She really didn’t want to go poking around in pitch-black rooms in the middle of a crime headquarters, so she backed away from them in a hurry. She found herself checking the time on her phone obsessively. Every second she spent alone was a second that something could go wrong. She had gotten lucky up to this point, and she could only hope that Terezi was having the same experience. Judging by her frequent texts, she was fine, but fear continued to nettle in the back of Vriska’s mind. 

She crept down the hall, her every sense on high alert. Her gait was that of a thief, silent and smooth. Without loud steps, she could hear more clearly, and as she walked, the murmur of voices grew. She froze. 

“‘S probably the only useful thing you’ve ever done.”

“Ohoho! But I am useful. And the writing is so lovely, hm, yes!”

The first voice was low, loud and grating, and the second was shriller. Vriska pressed herself to a wall and prayed that they wouldn’t come her way. 

“The point isn’t the writing, idiot, it’s the riddle.”

“But the riddles are all the more lovely! Pure poetry, I think, the perfect thing to ponder!”

“If you want poetry, go get a goddamn book of nursery rhymes. This shit’s important, and you know Slick’ll get pissed off if you keep trying to get yer grubby little paws on it.”

The shrill voice went silent, then began humming aimlessly. 

Vriska’s mind raced. The voices were getting closer, and she needed to move. But she was in such a prime position for eavesdropping… And the two seemed to be discussing the riddles written in the White Queen’s journal. How had they gotten a hold of it?

Aradia’s words echoed. _”The library’s copy was missing the last few pages, I’m afraid.”_

Fuck, fuck, fuck. Terezi and Vriska would have to crack that riddle fast. Vriska slowly pulled away from the wall, hoping she could make it back to Terezi without being discovered.

It became clear that she would not as soon as she turned around.

A woman stood in the center of the hall, a sly smile tugging at her lips. She was looking straight at Vriska.

“I’ve been waiting for you, Ms. Serket.”

Vriska scowled and backed away. There was no use being stealthy anymore, now that she had been seen. Her best hope lay with her fighting ability. “Who the hell are you?” 

The woman smirked. “Have you not heard of me? Oh, dear. I thought Ms. Pyrope would have paid greater attention... After all, every rumor has its basis in truth.”

“Ru--” Vriska started.

_Oh, fuck._

“You’re the Crew boss.”

“Not quite,” the woman said casually. “The rumors have basis in truth, yes, but they have been warped by time. I am not the leader. In fact, I am not a true member of the Midnight Crew. But I will step in when I am needed.”

“Okay. Sounds cool. Bye,” Vriska made to step around the woman, only to find her path blocked. 

“Come now, you didn’t really think I’d let you go so easily?”

“You’d better,” said Vriska, sounding more confident than she felt. 

“You are in no position to be telling me what I can or cannot do.” The woman’s wrist flicked, and Vriska noticed the whip coiled around her forearm. “Though you are intelligent and well-trained, you would not stand a chance against me. _With_ me, however… That is another story.”

“What?”

“I’m offering you a job, child. How do you think this all began?” The woman smiled. “I had been scouting you as a future Crew associate when you led us to the two rings. I must say, you’ve performed better than I ever expected. And the Pyrope girl’s involvement was a nice touch. I’d thought I had seen the last of her after Slick’s trial.”

“Well, you thought wrong. And you’re even more wrong if you think I’ll ever help you,” Vriska snarled. 

The woman laughed. “Oh, Ms. Serket. Do you really think you have a choice?”

“You can’t make me do anything!”

“Oh, but I can.” The whip unfurled from the woman’s arm and fell to the ground, ready to be utilized at its owner’s command. “You’re quite close with Ms. Pyrope. If you reject my offer, she will pay the price.”

Vriska’s chest tightened. 

She had to admit, the idea of having so much power was tantalizing. It was _tempting._ For one moment, she imagined what it would be like to take this chance. She would rule the shadows of Skaia City. Everyone who was someone would know her name, and they would live in fear of the day Vriska Serket would come along… 

But Terezi had already been hurt beyond measure by the Midnight Crew. Could Vriska really bring her to be hurt further?

No. Vriska wouldn’t let her be hurt, because Vriska would protect her. This lady couldn’t touch them. 

“Sorry not sorry, but I’m gonna have to turn you down,” Vriska said coldly. 

The woman’s cunning smile disappeared. “That is a highly foolish decision.”

Before Vriska could react, pain sliced across her face as the whip cracked against her cheek. She bit down on her lip to stifle a yelp. Blood dripped from the open wound, but Vriska did not break down. She stood tall and stared the woman in the face.

“I won’t help you.”

“All you have to do is get Ms. Pyrope off the case. I made a very rare mistake by underestimating her ability. Distract her, join me, and you will have enough power to obtain your every desire.”

“Do you not speak English?” Vriska hissed. “I said, _I won’t fucking join you!_ ”

The woman took a long time before responding. “I’ll give you time to think,” she decided. “Just come back here once you’ve made the correct choice. Ask for Snowman.”

And with that, she stepped aside. Vriska hesitated as she began to walk away, then, when she met no opposition, she broke into a run. Her head swam as she stumbled through the hall, which now seemed so much longer than it had previously. Terezi. Where was she? Could they really get out alive? Oh God, what were they going to do?

“Vriska!” Terezi called. She ran from the fork in the path up to Vriska, catching her partner’s shoulders and sniffing. “You smell like blood, what’s going on?”

“Got caught,” Vriska gasped. “We gotta get out right now.”

Terezi pulled her back towards the mouth of the hall with no further delay. They broke through the door and into the store that served as a facade for what lay behind it, and they did not stop until they were inside Terezi’s car. Vriska slammed her foot down on the gas and sent them careening through the city. 

“What’s going on?” Terezi said urgently. 

_You’ll get her killed._

Vriska stared out the window. She could choose to save Terezi, but doing so would hurt her, too. How could she convince her friend to stay off the case? It wouldn’t be possible.

Or she could choose to continue, at the expense of Terezi’s safety. She didn’t know how much protection she could offer, but she could always try, couldn’t she?

“Nothing,” she muttered. “Some lackey caught me. Not a Crew member, I don’t think. I knocked him out so he wouldn’t raise the alarm. We’ll just have to be more careful next time.”

Terezi nodded. A smile crept its way onto her face, and Vriska raised an eyebrow. “What are you grinning about?”

“I found the hostages.”

Vriska tried to sound excited. “Wow! That’s good. We can probably bust them out when we go back.”

“Exactly. They know we’re on the scene now, though, so we might have to go all-out. We can bring Karkat and Aradia and Sollux. I don’t know about Tavros, I’m not sure if he’ll want to…”

Vriska let Terezi ramble about her plans, not paying much attention. Her mind was crowded with fears and ideas and static. _Choose_ , it told her. _Choose, or a choice will be made for you._

Vriska didn’t know what to do. All she knew was that no matter what happened, she wouldn’t let any harm come to Terezi Pyrope.


	7. A Dark Descendant

Vriska was woken by the ringing of her cell phone. When she picked up, Terezi’s voice greeted her: “Hey. You want an iced coffee?”

Vriska yawned and rolled out of bed. She kept her cell phone squeezed between her ear and shoulder as she stood up and stretched. “Yeah. Venti, remember?”

“Of course. Today’s gonna be a big day, we need all the caffeine we can get!”

Vriska tensed for a moment. If Terezi had been there, she would have noticed, and asked what was wrong. But she wasn’t there. She was off at Starbucks, being her manic self. And Vriska was left alone to think. 

If it was any other problem, she would ask Terezi for help. Vriska laughed bitterly. That wasn’t possible now. 

All night, Vriska had tossed and turned in bed, sleeping in fits, wracked with the dilemma she faced. The idea of staying with Terezi and seeing their mission through was strangely compelling. The mystery, the excitement, Terezi herself… They had suddenly become a big part of her life, and the thought of abandoning them wasn’t pleasing. Then again, Vriska had a clear cut route to power by turning on Terezi, but that didn’t feel right, either. The best option, Vriska thought, would be to run away from everything. But that was an option Terezi would never accept.

This all was driving her up the fucking wall.

“Vriska?”

“Yeah, I’m here,” Vriska responded. “Just thinking about everything we’ve got ahead of us.”

“It is a little daunting,” Terezi agreed on the other line. “But I know everything is going to work out. I can see it. We’re going to rescue all those people being held hostage, find those rings, and show the Midnight Crew that nobody fucks with us.”

“Uh-huh. Got any new ideas about those riddles?”

“Ughh. So many, but none of them make sense! I’ve been thinking about it so much, my brain hurts.” Vriska could practically see Terezi stick her tongue out. “What about you?”

“I’ve got nothin’. There are, like, a million places that lonely people go. How is that line even supposed to help us?” Vriska grumbled as she changed into a fresh outfit. “And where the hell do people whisper about hope?”

“I’m not sure,” Terezi said thoughtfully. “Where does metal cry?” She paused. “Hey! Wait, what about that fountain on Light Street? The one with the crying girl? And people throw coins into it to make wishes, that counts as hope!”

“They don’t whisper about it, though,” Vriska pointed out. 

“You don’t know that. I’m gonna check it out!”

Vriska padded into her kitchen, searching for something to eat. “You’d better not be late with that coffee.”

“I won’t. I know how you’ll go through withdrawal.” Terezi giggled. “I’ll call you back when I’m at the fountain, ‘kay?”

“‘Kay. Talk to you soon, doofus.”

“Bye!” Terezi hung up, and Vriska smiled. 

She looked through the fridge and was surprised to find it mostly barren. She had been spending so much of her time at Terezi’s place, her own residence was sadly under-stocked. She settled for a bowl of cereal (pouring the cereal first, like a sane human being), and ate in silence.

The minutes ticked by, and Vriska’s phone sat motionless. She busied herself by reading the puzzles on the back of the cereal box. Unfortunately, they were easy enough to be solved within minutes. Vriska scowled. She was beginning to grow impatient.

Usually, when she felt like this, she would go out and nick something from a shop. But she felt hesitant to do so. She was better than that. She had at least some measure of self-control. And besides, why should waiting on a call make her so anxious?

Oh, right. Maybe because Terezi’s life had been threatened only a day before.

Vriska began to dial her number at the exact moment the phone began to ring. 

“Hey,” Vriska said. “What’s up?”

As soon as Terezi spoke, she knew something was wrong.

Her voice was shaky, and she was obviously faking bravado. “Hey, Vriska! N-nothing much, I, uh… Oh, man. I think I need you to come help me.”

Vriska’s shoes were on in an instant, and she was out the door. “Where are you? What happened?”

“I’m upside-down inside my car,” Terezi said quietly. “But I’m okay.”

“Holy fuck, Pyrope!” Vriska slammed into her car and hit the gas before she had even shut the door. “That does _not_ sound okay to me. Are you hurt?”

“Not much, I got lucky. I was able to get out of the driver’s seat when the car flipped over. I’m just kind of… sitting in here now. My arm’s bleeding, but not badly. I think someone called the police, I can hear yelling outside. Or maybe it’s the fire department...”

“You called me before you fucking called for help?” Vriska gripped the steering wheel tightly. “Where the hell are you, I’m going to kick your ass.”

“I think it’s been thoroughly kicked already.” Terezi laughed weakly. “That’s what I get for driving while blind, right?”

“Did you hit someone, or did someone hit you?”

“Someone hit me and then drove away.”

Vriska’s stomach clenched. It couldn’t be a coincidence. “Listen, this isn’t your fault. Where are you?”

“Light Street. Right by the fountain, actually. If only I’d made it fifty more feet, haha...”

It couldn’t possibly be a coincidence.

“You hang on until I get there.” Vriska hung up, and focused on flagrantly defying the speed limit.

When she arrived on the scene, she found it swarmed with police officers. In the middle of it all was Terezi’s red car, on its back and thoroughly smashed. Vriska felt sick. If Terezi hadn’t been able to get out… 

She had to fight through the crowd of officers, insisting that she be allowed to see her friend and using her elbows liberally. Fortunately, she found her efforts to be unnecessary. Terezi was sitting nearby. A woman hovered over her shoulder, offering blankets and a sympathetic expression. Terezi did not accept either.

“Terezi?” 

She looked up, shivering slightly. “Hey, Vriska. What’s up?”

“You look awful. More so than usual, I mean.” Vriska sat down next to her. “Be serious. Are you okay? Jeez, I can’t leave you alone for ten minutes!”

Terezi lifted her left arm. It was wrapped in several layers of bandages, but a tinge of red was visible through the white cocoon. “I mean, there’s this. And, I guess… I’m a little freaked out. I never expected something like this to happen. I knew it was a possibility, obviously, but I didn’t really think the reality of it applied to me. I’m _me_. ‘Disabled’ has always been an operative word when it comes to me. I’m still perfectly able to do anything and everything I want.” She scowled. “Or, I thought I was.”

Each word sent shards of pain through Vriska’s chest. She wanted to grab her friend by the shoulders and scream, _”This isn’t your fault!”_ She couldn’t stand to see Terezi down on herself. Terezi was always strong, and her current state of frailty was downright disturbing.

She guessed that Terezi was probably thinking the same thing. 

“Look,” Vriska said firmly. “Don’t beat yourself up. You can still do everything you want. You’re still everything you were before. Everybody gets into accidents, Terezi. You got your face sliced up and it didn’t stop you, remember? Are you really going to let something that wasn’t your fault affect you like this?”

Terezi discreetly wiped a hand across her eyes. “Well, when you put it that way…”

“It’s not your fault for being blind,” Vriska pressed. “That’s fucking ridiculous. This was a hit and run, plain and simple. Now get yourself up and let’s look through that fountain.”

Terezi smiled. “You’re relentless.”

“You’re the one who got me into it, there’s no backing out now.” Vriska extended her hand, and Terezi took it. They stood up together. 

Close by was the fountain. As Vriska drew closer, she could read the inscription etched into a golden plaque at the bottom. “The Mystery of Intent.”

“Didn’t this sculptor used to live here or something?” she asked. “I think I remember seeing it in the paper.”

“Yeah, I think so.” Terezi sniffed. “It was after I went blind, though. What does it actually look like? ‘Girl crying’ is the most description I’ve ever gotten, so it doesn’t tell me much.”

Vriska thought for a moment. “There’s a circular pool at the bottom full of water, and it’s all made of white marble. In the middle is a little island-looking thing. There’s a girl with short hair standing on it, she’s got a long dress with a sash tied around the middle. Her face is creepy. She’s holding her hand over one side of it, and the other half is just kind of… slack. Like she’s looking into a void or something equally poetic. She’s crying real water, but her face doesn’t look like the expression of someone crying, you know what I’m saying? It’s just blank.” She paused. “And there are some jets spraying water around her. That’s pretty much it.”

“Good description,” Terezi said approvingly. “See a ring anywhere?”

“Nope.” Vriska leaned over the edge, searching for any glimmer amid the pale stone. “Smell a ring anywhere?”

Terezi inhaled deeply. “Mmm… No! Just rocks and water.” She shivered.

Vriska frowned. “Dude, you’re shaking. Do you want to go to my house for a while? We can always come back here later.”

Terezi hesitated. “Just for a little while?”

“Yeah. I’m not gonna keep you from your investigation.”

“ _Our_ investigation,” Terezi corrected. 

“Right, ours. Let’s go.” Vriska took Terezi by the arm and led her towards her (not-wrecked) car, fending off disapproving members of the police force. 

The two drove in relative silence. Vriska’s thoughts were too loud for her to make conversation over them.

_They’ll kill her next time. You need to make a choice. You need to protect her. How would you feel if she died because of you? You’re going to lose her no matter what you do, but Jesus, wouldn’t you prefer if she stayed breathing? You care about her. Admit it. You want her to be safe._

_You’ve already made your choice, haven’t you?_

Vriska pulled into her driveway, and Terezi followed her up the walk to the house. Vriska squinted. Something was stuck to her door. A piece of paper, a note, maybe? She ripped it from the door and skimmed over it. By the time the words registered, she was frozen.

_As you can see, I am growing impatient. Worse will come if you do not ally yourself with me. Do what is best for her, and for yourself, and meet me at headquarters._

_I’ll be waiting._

_-Sn0wman_

“Vriska?” said Terezi. “You okay?”

“Fine,” Vriska said numbly. She pushed the door open and went inside, hardly feeling the movement of her legs. Fuck. She was so screwed.

“Vriska, you’re acting weird,” Terezi persisted. 

“Me? I’m fine. I should be the one worried about you, you’re the one who just got in a car crash.” Vriska forced a laugh. “You should probably take a nap. Then we can head back to the fountain, okay?”

Terezi tried to frown, but it was clear that she needed the rest. “Ughh, fine. Are you sure you can bear to be without me for half an hour?”

“It’ll be the best half an hour of my life.”

Terezi snorted. “All right, then. Good night.” She put her hand to the wall and felt her way down to the bedroom, where she disappeared inside. Vriska let out a breath she hadn’t been aware she was holding. 

It was time.

Snowman had given her two options. Betray Terezi and become powerful, or go against the Midnight Crew. It was a shame that neither of those options were desirable.

Vriska would just have to make another. 

She fetched her phone and began to speak quietly into it. It was critical that she didn’t wake Terezi. Before she was halfway through recording, she hit stop and deleted her progress. She started over, then over again. Finally she finished a copy she was satisfied with.

Vriska left the phone on the kitchen counter as she left. Terezi would find the recording, eventually. Vriska didn’t want to be there when she did. The things she had said… None of it was true, of course. It was devised to distract Terezi, and nothing more.

Vriska knew it wouldn’t be enough to keep Terezi off the case. Nothing could do that. She was hoping that the shock factor would keep her friend occupied just long enough for Snowman to think Vriska had obeyed. Terezi would appear to be off the case, but she would recover quickly, she never let herself mope for too long. If someone hurt her, she would come back swinging, and whoever had done the hurting would have hell to pay.

“You were wrong about me,” Vriska’s recording began. “I don’t know how you ever got the idea that you could change me. I told you before, I’m not a good person. I guess you didn’t take that seriously.

“It was always me, Terezi. You should’ve heard what I was thinking when you admitted that you suspected me. I thought you had been too dumb to see it, but you had finally proven yourself a little smarter than the average cripple! But then you threw it all away again. Why would you trust me? Why would you ever do that to yourself?

“You’re paying the price for it now, I guess. I can’t keep going like this. I can’t pretend to care about you. I belong at the head of the Midnight Crew, not tagging along with a blind freak. This was fun while it lasted, but now you’ve got to realize; I’ll never let you win.

“Give up now. Leave this city and don’t come back. Maybe, if you let this case go, I’ll spare your life. But don’t be stupid about this, Terezi. Don’t presume to think you know the ‘real’ me. This has been and always will be me. Vriska Serket. Criminal, thief, everything you despise. Remember that.

“Remember that I will not let you walk out alive if you try to find me.”

The most painful part of the message was that there was a chance, just a chance, that Terezi would believe every word.

It was a small risk, a minor side effect of the plan, yet it didn’t feel so minor to Vriska. What if Terezi began to hate her? When Vriska confessed her real plan to sabotage the Midnight Crew, would she even believe it? 

Vriska could only hope. If worst came to worst, Terezi’s friendship was a small price to pay for her safety. 

Vriska could learn to live without her, if she had to.

***

“Tell me what you want,” Vriska growled. 

The hall of the Midnight Crew’s headquarters was empty, or so it seemed. Vriska knew her aggressor would be hiding out somewhere within earshot.

Snowman appeared within seconds, and Vriska wanted to punch that smug smile right off her face.

“You’ve done very well, Ms. Serket. I will show you to the next part of your assignment now.” She started off down the hall, but Vriska stayed put. She waited for a stubborn thirty seconds before following. 

Snowman waited in front of a door carved of dark mahogany. “Slick is waiting for you. Do be civil with him, he’s more stab-happy than the average crime boss.” Vriska sneered at her before pushing the door open.

The man sitting inside looked like every stereotypical gangster Vriska had ever seen. He wore a carefully tailored black suit, coupled with an actual fedora and a sharp-toothed grin. He looked like he hadn’t shaved in a few days. It was clearly a cultivated aesthetic, and Vriska would have respected it if she wasn’t so disgusted. 

“Serket,” he greeted her. “You really took your time, huh?”

“What’s it to you?’” she spat.

“Don’t get bitchy. Sit down,” he said, pointing to the vacant seat in front of his desk. “I’ve got a job for ya.”

“Oh, I thought you just called me here to have a pleasant chat,” Vriska said sarcastically. She sat down heavily.

Slick raised his eyebrows. “She’s a feisty one. You really wanna know what you’re in for?”

“Tell me.”

He settled back in his chair. “I assume you’ve figured out my ancestry by now?”

Vriska distantly recalled someone mentioning it. “You’re descended from the Black Queen or something, right?”

“Yeah. So, I haven’t exactly appreciated everyone tryin’ to keep me from what’s rightfully mine.” His grin turned to a scowl. “Those rings are my birthright. I mean, one of ‘em is, and I’m gonna take the other because I fuckin’ can.”

“Yeah, so I’ve heard,” said Vriska, feigning boredom. 

“Drop the sass. I’ve got enough people around here mouthing off to me without addin’ you to the mix.” Slick reached into a bowl on his desk and took something small and black from it. “Let me tell ya, that Vantas kid’s got some guts. I don’t think I’ve had anyone tell me to fuck off so many times in such a short period a’ time.” He popped the black something into his mouth. Vriska sniffed. Licorice, just like the scent Terezi had assigned him.

“Oh really? I guess I’ve got a record to beat, then.”

He snorted. “Determined, aren’t ya? Jeez, am I glad you weren’t _my_ pick.”

He baited the hook. Vriska looked at the ceiling for a minute, aloof, before she finally bit. “What do you mean?”

“We each picked a kid to work through,” Slick said casually. “Our right little prodigies. Droog got Megido, I got Vantas, etcetera etcetera. Snowman got you, though I can’t say I understand her taste.”

Vriska scowled. “I can’t either. Isn’t it obvious by now that I don’t want anything to do with you?”

“Ain’t it obvious that what you want doesn’t matter? I want you to find those rings, period. Your feelin’s ain’t relevant.”

“And what if I can’t? I’ve been thinking about those riddles constantly, and I’ve got nothing.”

Slick shifted in his seat, and a knife slipped from his sleeve into his palm. “Then you get to say hello to my little friend.”

With anyone else, she would call a bluff, but the memory of Terezi’s punishment lingered in her mind. 

_One is low, where water flows, where the fir stands tall and the lonely go._

“Low.” That probably referred to elevation, but Vriska couldn’t be sure. 

“Where water flows,” that one was obvious. The Black Queen’s ring was hidden somewhere where there was water.

“Where the fir stands tall”… That one could be literal, or it could be a metaphor. Vriska had never been good with symbolism. How was she supposed to know what a tree secretly meant?

And finally, “where the lonely go.” This line was the most frustrating of all. Lonely people could go anywhere! There had to be something she was missing.

When she was lonely, she went running. There was something satisfying about showing off her physical fitness to all those chumps walking by. It always made her feel better in no time, though it was a rare occurrence. Vriska hardly ever got lonely. It was a difficult emotion to feel when she wasn’t accustomed to company. Of course, Terezi had changed that.

_Where would Terezi go?_

Maybe to her room? All the available scents could be a comfort, Vriska supposed. No… They would probably serve as reminders to all the enemies and stresses of her life. Damn. She urged herself to think harder. When had Terezi opened up to her?

At the scene of the car wreck that day, of course, but that wasn’t somewhere Terezi would go to feel better. Vriska thought for any other occasion. 

Oh, yeah! There had been the time she had run out of pine scent and demanded Vriska escort her to Paradox Forest. The memory brought a smile to Vriska’s lips. Walking through the forest as Terezi’s guide, watching her fumble her way to the pine tree… It had been fun. 

Shit.

_The pine tree._

The low pool at the base of the waterfall. The pine, no, the _fir_ that stuck out, taller than any of the other trees. It was a soothing atmosphere, and Vriska wouldn’t have been surprised if many people went there when they were feeling down. That had to be it!

“I think I’ve got something,” she said, surprised at herself. Terezi would have given her a high-five for her deduction skills.

But Terezi wasn’t there. By now, she was probably convinced that Vriska was a horrid criminal. And wasn’t she? Giving information to one of the most feared men in Skaia City? Even if she was only going to turn on him, it felt wrong.

It was against her will, she reminded herself. It was to protect Terezi.

“Go on,” Slick said, his eyes glittering. There was no backing out now. Vriska swallowed.

“Paradox Forest,” she said. “There’s a fir tree and a waterfall. I think that’s where the ring might be.”

“See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” The knife disappeared back up Slick’s sleeve. “Take me there.”

Vriska hesitated. Beyond telling him where the ring might be, taking him there felt like a worse betrayal. But she had no other choice. 

“Okay.”

***

The air was thick with the scent of pine. Vriska tried to avoid breathing through her nose as she walked, forcing down memories of treading the same path with quite a different companion. Spades Slick held no regard for the atmosphere. He tramped through the forest, pushing branches aside and scowling as they would not bend far enough. He broke any that were particularly stubborn.

Finally, they came upon the waterfall, the water a constant roar. The fir tree stood next to it, all green boughs and wonder. What could be concealed between those branches?

Vriska made her way up to it and felt around the trunk. Slick was right behind her, all patience abandoned. His fingers clawed at the bark, tearing away strips of it and searching, searching for a hint of silver or gold. At first, the search seemed in vain. The two combed every inch of the roots and trunk. Eventually the branches were explored as well, but no results were yielded. Slick spat on the ground.

“You tryin’ to play some joke on me?”

“No,” said Vriska. “Do I look that stupid?” She ran her hands along the tree once more, and her fingers caught on the hole Terezi had dug to extract the sap. She thought back to the feeling of her sticky fingers entwined with Terezi’s. 

Vriska moved her hand away quickly, and as it slipped across a root, her sap-covered fingers faltered along a tiny groove. She stopped. With careful movements, she shifted her fingers, and she felt the bark shift along with it.

Hardly daring to breathe, she plucked away a small strip of bark.

Half-covered by the root, half-buried in the ground, there was a sheen of gold. Vriska bruhsed the earth away and it became more visible.

Hidden away for years, but finally uncovered, lay the ring of Ebony, the Black Queen.

It was less impressive than Vriska had expected. It was not encrusted with diamonds, nor etched with intricate designs of silver. In fact, it was rather plain. It was a thick band of gold, with four white orbs positioned at equal distances around it. They looked like pearls, or opals, maybe. Simple, but beautiful in their own right.

Slick pounced as soon as Vriska raised it into the air. The ring was snatched from her fingers and crushed into his fist, as his face shone with wicked excitement. 

“You done good, little Serket. Very good. You ain’t got a clue about the second ring, by any chance?”

Vriska’s face burned with something close to shame. “It might be in a fountain on Light Street.”

He sneered. “You gonna guide me, then, bitch?”

Vriska stood up and headed back towards the car without another word. She wouldn’t do herself the indignity of responding.

The drive into the city was silent, punctured only by the snickering of Slick as he turned the ring over in his fingers. Vriska hid her disgust as best she could. 

The streets passed by, all perfectly-kept lawns turning into immaculate buildings. It was the facade of a perfect city, The City of Light. Vriska had never expected just how dark the shadows cast by those lights would be. She had never expected to become a part of them.

On the route to the fountain, Vriska drove through the city square. There were people milling about, doing what ordinary civilians do. Shopping. Chatting. Listening to the chimings of the church bell, climbing up the clock tower… 

Wait, what? 

Vriska pressed her face to the window, peering towards the upper half of the church. It was an ancient building, and the pride of Skaia City. The clock tower was a familiar presence. It had been the defining aspect of the city square for as long as Vriska could remember. The ticking of its hands was a constant and resounding noise that marked every passing second, dividing moments into parts, into sections of memory bordered by a tick, tock, tick. 

But the tower was not the only thing that was familiar. 

Near its peak, just under the clock face, was a group of people. They stood on the balcony around it, looking tiny from a distance, and appearing to examine the numbers and hands. One of them had her face pressed against the number eight.

“Terezi?” Vriska whispered.

The car lurched to a halt, and the driver’s seat door flew open. Vriska ran out just as Slick opened his door. She was throwing away her chance at subtlety, but hell, here was her chance to rejoin Terezi. She wasn’t going to throw it away. 

“Hey, what gives?” Slick shouted. Vriska glanced over her shoulder. He was scowling, and the knife was back in his hand. She ran still faster, making for the church.

The inside was just as old and beautiful as the outside, but she had no time to admire it. She whipped her head back and forth before she located the stairs. Her legs burned with effort as she hurtled across the floor and up the stairs, her footsteps echoing all around. 

What was Terezi doing? Had she cracked the second riddle?

Vriska clutched at a stitch in her side as she burst through the doors to the balcony, praying that Terezi would set aside her suspicion and welcome her partner back.

“Terezi!” she gasped. “I lied, I lied, Slick’s here!”

Terezi looked up, her eyes wide. 

“Vriska?”

Too late, Vriska noticed Karkat, scowling, by Terezi’s side. He lunged forward and pinned Vriska to the wall. “You!” he snarled. “What the fuck did you do _this_ time?” Aradia and Sollux sat by on the sidelines, making no move to help.

“Karkat, let her go!” Terezi pushed him to the side, and he stumbled, dangerously close to the edge of the balcony, before righting himself. “Vriska, what’s going on?”

Vriska could only stare at her.

In Terezi’s hand was a golden ring, studded with four white orbs. 

“Oh, hell,” Vriska mumbled. “Where do I even begin?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On a more lighthearted note, here is some bonus content:
> 
> 1) While in her car with Spades Slick, Vriska turns on her angry rock playlist. He tells her that she's ruining the mood. Criminals are supposed to drive in brooding silence, or intimidating silence, at least. She ignores him and turns it up louder. He puts a knife through her stereo.
> 
> 2) Fun fact: the ringtone for Vriska on Terezi's phone is Smooth Criminal.


	8. A New Challenge

“First of all,” said Vriska. “We need to get out of here. Is there another way down? Spades Slick is on his way up those stairs, and he ain’t happy.”

Terezi glanced down from the balcony. “How far down is that?”

“Fucking far,” said Karkat. “Why are we listening to _her_?” He jerked his head towards Vriska. “Didn’t you say she was working with Slick?”

“She was being manipulated. I knew that from the start, and by now, it should be obvious to everyone.” 

Vriska nodded. “Thank you for being rational for once. I can see you’re the only one here who’s taking up the practice.”

Aradia raised an eyebrow. “We have the right to be suspicious. Terezi told us that you had confessed to working with the Midnight Crew. She clearly believes you innocent, and I could easily see it being true, but what if it isn’t?”

Vriska scoffed. “Oh, relaaaaaaax. That was the threat of death talking. Anyway, we have bigger things to be worrying about than my definite innocence! We need a way down. Right now.”

“We can’t make it in time, not that way,” said Terezi. “I’ve got one idea, but it’s risky as hell.”

“Tell me,” Vriska said urgently.

Terezi held the White Queen’s ring in her open palm. “This is priority number one for him. If given the choice, he’ll go after it, not us. Probably.”

“Probably? Terezi, he’ll just stab us and _then_ go after it,” Vriska said in disbelief.

The doors burst open, and Spades Slick joined them on the balcony. Every fiber of his being seemed to ooze contempt. He pushed his hat back and looked each of them over, scowling a little more with every new face he saw. “Well, goddamn. I came up here expecting to find one traitor, but instead, I found four, plus a girl who should be dead.”

Terezi took a deep breath and looked to Vriska. “Well, no time for deliberation!”

She threw the ring over the edge of the tower.

It took a second for her action to register. When it did, Slick’s eyes widened in outrage. “Why, you little!” He lunged towards Terezi, but Vriska lept into his path. 

“We need to talk,” she said under her breath. She did not relinquish eye contact. Slick looked confused, but she shook her head warningly. A plan was beginning to form in her mind.

“You’d better have a goddamn good explanation for this,” Slick growled. “If not, I’ll just kill you once you finish squawking.” Giving one last sneer to Terezi, he turned and stormed back down the stairs. As soon as he was gone, Vriska rounded on Terezi.

“Dude!” she groaned. “Why the hell did you do that? There’s no way we can get it back now! In the best case scenario, it’s completely lost. But otherwise, you just let him get to it!”

“No, I didn’t. I bought us some time. And it worked, didn’t it?” Terezi went to the mouth of the stairs. “Now for the next phase of my plan. We beat him up!”

“How are we going to beat him up? We don’t have weapons!”

Terezi grinned. She held her cane in front of her, one hand on each end. With a twist, it split to reveal a twin pair of blades. Vriska’s jaw dropped.

“Pyrope, why have you never informed me that you are a secret badass?”

“If you haven’t noticed by now, you’re more blind than me!” Terezi cackled. “Come on.”

Vriska shook her head. “We can’t fight him. That’d just be stupid. I’ve got a plan, too, and it’s a better one.”

“Oh!” Karkat said sarcastically. “Brilliant. The sneak has a _plan_. Does it involve further blurring your allegiances, perhaps?”

Vriska hesitated. Her idea did involve doing more lying. But her situation was already a web of lies. It was a tapestry of convoluted actions and intentions that were more knotted than the earbuds in her pocket. 

Why not add another tangle to the mix?

“Yes. I don’t know if it’ll work, but if it does, it’s our best hope of getting out of this alive.” Vriska put her hand on Terezi’s shoulder. “Do you trust me?”

“No,” she said immediately, and Vriska’s throat constricted. But then Terezi’s face broke out into a grin. “Of course I trust you, dummy. Lie to me about being a secret Midnight Crew boss all you want, but I know you’re just a cute little klepto at heart.”

“Good. I’m about to lie a whole lot, but I promise I’m still on your side.” Vriska squeezed Terezi’s shoulder, then broke away.

For one wild moment, she was tempted to lean in and kiss her partner’s cheek.

But that would be stupid and sappy and totally not her style. Instead, she smiled and started down the stairs.

Karkat shoved past Vriska, and she caught a glimpse of a pistol in his hand. Was she the only one who had come unarmed? Oh, well. If it came to a fight, her fists would have to be good enough. She walked down by Terezi’s side, and they cautiously exited the bottom of the stairwell.

The church seemed to be empty. The group crept through the hall, their footsteps echoing off the high ceilings. 

When Vriska peered out, she could see Slick outside, yelling into a cell phone. After a moment, a sleek black car pulled up to the curb, and three other men piled out. Karkat cursed, his mouth too close to Vriska’s ear as he tried to look around her.

“Fuck, that’s the rest of the Crew.”

“Well, we outnumber them by one,” Terezi whispered. “We’ve got that going for us.”

“What the hell is that going to do against Hearts Boxcars?” Karkat hissed back. “He could literally eat us all alive!”

“Tavros is not here,” Aradia murmured. “Should we call him?”

“No way. He’d be the first to die if he showed up,” said Karkat. “We’re on our own.”

“Karkat, how far is your range?” Terezi asked. “Can you shoot them from here?”

“Are you fucking crazy? It’s broad daylight, I can’t shoot them!”

“Will all of you shut up? We aren’t fighting them!” Vriska snapped.

“Just making a backup plan,” said Terezi. “We don’t know when this could go wrong.” 

The Crew members were now prowling the churchyard, their eyes glued to the ground. Vriska watched them search. Terezi was right. This plan was risky and half-formed, and it was very possible that Vriska would get herself killed while executing it. She would have to be ready for a fight.

Vriska took a deep breath. “Okay. I’m gonna go make shit up now. I’ll probably tell Slick something about convincing you I’m on your side when I’m not. But I am. Don’t worry.”

Terezi giggled. “This is ridiculous. Whatever, Serket, just go and do your thing.”

“He already saw the ring,” Aradia interjected. “How will you play that off?”

Vriska shrugged. “I’ll find a way.”

“Say it was a decoy,” Terezi suggested. “And the real one is hidden somewhere else.”

“That sounds like something that could end with me dying,” said Vriska. “Perfect.”

She pushed open the door and walked out into the yard. “Stay hidden,” she hissed over her shoulder. 

Without looking back, she strolled over to where the Midnight Crew waited.

Slick’s knife was already waiting for her. She could see it gleaming in the noonday sun, held at the ready in the palm of his hand. He smirked as she drew closer.

“The traitor returns.”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. You really think I’d try to betray you? Like I said earlier, I’m not that stupid.”

Slick frowned. “Then what the fuck was all that?”

Vriska shrugged. “Turns out I didn’t do a good enough job getting Pyrope off the case. I saw her, and I was like, hey, what’s this dumbass doing? So I went up to talk to her and throw her off some more.”

“Yeah, right. And that’s how she found the White Queen’s ring.”

Vriska forced a grin. “Nope. She found a decoy. The White Queen must have put it there to defer hunters. Terezi let me see it, and it’s nothing like the Black Queen’s. It’s really obviously fake. The _real_ ring is in the fountain on Light Street, like I told you.”

“And I should believe you because?”

Vriska paused. It was only a moment of hesitation, but it was enough for Slick’s frown to deepen. She rushed to cover her mistake. “I can prove it!” 

_What the fuck are you doing?_

“We can just go and get it, and you’ll see.”

_Oh my god you’re such an idiot_

“It’ll only take a few minutes. If you’re really so intent on not trusting me, which you have no reason for, we can come right back afterwards and compare the two rings, the real and the fake.”

_THERE ARE NO TWO RINGS YOU UTTER MORON!!!!!!!!_

Vriska plastered on a smile and tried to convince herself that she was not digging her own grave.

“This sounds like a good plan!” the shortest member of the Crew chirped. “I say we follow her!”

“Aw, shove off, Deuce,” the tallest growled. Vriska thought their voices sounded vaguely familiar. 

Slick regarded her suspiciously for a minute. Finally, he pulled down his hat in surrender. “Fine,” he grumbled. “But if you’re tryin’ to play me, you’re dead meat.”

Vriska nodded, a little over-enthusiastically. “Yeah. You got it.”

The Midnight Crew began to pile back into their car, and Vriska supposed she should follow. Before she got in, she glanced over her shoulder. She could barely see Aradia’s face peeking out the church door.

“Find the ring fast,” Vriska mouthed. She could only hope Aradia was able to read lips.

She closed the door behind her, and they began to drive.

***

The drive was probably one of the most awkward experiences Vriska had ever had. She initially attempted to lighten the mood with some rather sarcastic introductions, but one glare from Slick was enough to shut her up. Only the small one was receptive. He chattered into her ear for the entire ride.

“That’s why you don’t talk in the car,” Boxcars grumbled. Vriska had been able to identify each of the Crew members; the tall one was Boxcars, the short one, Clubs Deuce, Slick was in the passenger’s seat, and the man silently driving was Diamonds Droog. They were all intimidating as hell, except Deuce. He was just annoying. 

And yet, Vriska found herself dreading the moment the car pulled to a stop. She distracted herself by pondering the White Queen’s ring.

Now that it had been found, the riddle made more sense. “One is high, where her namesake flies,” would refer to Peregrine Mendicant. The church tower was certainly high enough for hawks to be flying around. “Where hopes are whispered and metal cries…” Vriska supposed the first part referred to prayer. The second would be the bell at the top of the tower. 

The car stopped too soon for her to continue thinking. Droog parked, the passengers climbed out, and Vriska was left staring at the fountain which she knew to hold absolutely nothing.

She couldn’t let her fear show. She went over to the side of the fountain, dipping her hands into the water. How could she make this work?

“Uh, hey!”

Vriska looked up.

Wheeling rapidly towards her was Tavros Nitram. 

He looked fearfully towards Boxcars as he wheeled past the Crew, but kept going until he was directly before Vriska. “Uhh, the others said that you had, um, betrayed us, and then, uh, not betrayed us?”

Vriska was about to clap a hand over his mouth when he gave a very over-exaggerated wink. She thanked her lucky stars Tavros’ back was turned to the Crew. God, did he not know the meaning of the word _subtlety_?

“So, umm…I was going to say, we found out that the ring we found was fake, so we need to you to show us where the real ring is! But, uh, it looks like you’ve betrayed us again, so I can’t ask you that. Instead, I’m, uh, going to fight you!” He winked again. The nervous tremor in his voice should have been enough to give away his lies, but given that he always sounded nervous, it was a beautiful performance.

Vriska laughed loudly. “Never trust a Serket. Of course that ring was fake! But I’m not going to tell you where the real one is. I’m working with the Midnight Crew, remember?”

_Please don’t believe that, you idiot._

Luck was on Vriska’s side. Tavros seemed to understand, and a brief look of confidence flickered across his face before he put on a fearful expression. He turned back to the Crew. “Oh no! But, uh, I thought I was your friend!”

“I was never your friend,” Vriska said coldly. “Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

She walked over to Slick and pulled him aside. “We can’t have him this close to the real ring,” she hissed. “What should I do?”

Slick took a moment to consider. “You’re not off the hook. Get him away from here, then come right the fuck back. We’ll be watching.”

Vriska nodded and went back to Tavros. “I can show you where the real ring is,” she said, making sure her voice would carry. She grabbed the handles of Tavros’s wheelchair, ignoring how he flinched, and began speeding down the road with him. She didn’t stop moving until the Midnight Crew were out of sight.

“Thank fuck you showed up when you did. I never thought I’d be glad to see you!”

Tavros smiled. “Well, uh, nobody told me in advance what was happening at the clock tower, so I wanted to be of use somehow. When Aradia called, how could I, uh, say no?”

“Well, you did pretty okay. I’m out of there, at least.” Vriska sighed. “Now we need to get that ring before Slick realizes we tricked him.”

Tavros scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, uh… all of this is a little confusing. Can you, uh, be straight with me, and tell me what the hell is going on?”

Vriska laughed. “I’m on your side. This lady Snowman told me she’d kill Terezi if I didn’t work with her, right? So I was like, hey, I’ll pretend to work for her when really I’ll still be on Terezi’s side. The thing is, one of the conditions of my working for her was that I make Terezi stop investigating. So I sent her that recording. Then later I rejoined Terezi and everything was good. You following so far?”

Tavros nodded. “I, uh, I think so.”

“But then Slick realized I had betrayed the Crew. So I went back to him, and I said that I was only pretending to be on your side so you would trust me again. But really, _he_ was the one being tricked. I told him that the ring Terezi found was fake, and that I’d show him the real one so he could trust me. But Terezi’s ring _was_ the real one, so I would have been dead if you hadn’t showed up just then. Get it?”

Tavros blinked. “Wow, uh… You lead a really confusing life.”

“Yes, I do. Let’s make it simple; we need to get the White Queen’s ring, and fast.” Vriska started pushing Tavros’s chair again. “How fast can this thing go?”

“Uh, only as fast as you can run, but--”

“Got it! Don’t worry, I don’t live far.” Vriska took off into a sprint, laughing all the while at the way Tavros clenched the armrests of his wheelchair. 

“Come on, just enjoy it!” Her hair flew out behind her as she ran, her legs carrying her block after block as the wheels of Tavros’s chair spun wildly. His tan knuckles were white against the armrest. His breathing only began to ease when she slowed down, her house in sight.

She stopped abruptly once they were in front of it. Tavros lurched forward, and almost fell out before catching himself. He glared at her.

“Please don’t drop me.”

“Relax, I’m not gonna…” Vriska paused. “Wait, shit. How are we gonna get you in the car?”

Tavros looked surprised. “You’re, uh, taking me with you? Usually I just get left behind...”

“Duh, I’m taking you. You’ll never get any stronger if you just sit on the sidelines.” Vriska grabbed her keys from her pocket and unlocked her car. She pulled the side door open, looking Tavros over. “Hmm… I don’t know if that chair’ll fit.”

“It folds up,” Tavros offered. “I’ll just, uh, need to be inside first.”

Vriska scowled. “Ugh. Fine. You’d better be lighter than you look.” She tilted his chair forward, so he began to slide out, then hefted him up, staggering under his weight. “God, nevermind! You’re on your own.” She set Tavros on the floor of the car.

He could only sigh as he climbed up onto the seat.

Vriska folded up his wheelchair and stowed it next to him. She hopped into the driver’s seat, turned the key in the ignition, and backed out of her driveway without looking in her rearview mirror. 

“Hey, um, you seem to be going a little fast,” Tavros observed.

“Only a little?” Vriska pressed down on the gas pedal with more force as she sped down the road. “I’ll have to try harder.”

“I, uh, I know we’re in a hurry, but this isn’t safe.”

“Relax, you big baby. I drive like this all the time. It’ll be fiiiiiiiine.”

Vriska planned a route that would take them the furthest from the Midnight Crew. She turned down a side street and charted her course, visualizing the city square in her head. She could go by Crocker’s Bakery, take a left from the Sassy Cat Cafe… It had been a while since she’d driven around the city. Usually she walked, pickpocketing anyone who passed her by. More recently, she’d hitched rides from Terezi. 

“We’ll be there in five minutes, by normal speed,” she muttered. “But by Serket speed… make it two.”

There was a muffled, “Oh, God,” from the back seat before Vriska gunned it.

Vriska rolled down the window as she drove, ignoring how the wind whipped by. A quick glance in the mirror told her it was bothering Tavros. She didn’t care. The wind could thunder through with as much strength as it liked, but it would never best her. She was queen of the road.

Unfortunately, being the queen meant heightened speed, so her reign lasted barely over two minutes.

“I think,” Tavros mumbled. “That if I got out of this car right now, and I had the ability to stand, I would, uh, fall over.”

“Them’s the breaks, Nitram. You’ve just got to drive faster so you can get used to it!”

“I, uh, can’t really drive… My legs are kind of paralyzed.”

Vriska snorted. “Oh, whatever. I bet you could find a way to make it work if you wanted it bad enough.” She opened the door and slid out of her seat, then opened the side door to grab Tavros’s wheelchair and set it up. 

Tavros dropped out of his seat and landed on the floor with a thud. He winced as he maneuvered himself to face outwards.

“Vriska!”

Vriska turned around. Striding across the churchyard was Aradia. Her typical expression was apathetic, but now, she seemed angry. “What do you think you’re doing? Aren’t you going to help him?”

Vriska rolled her eyes. “He’s fine! Just look at him.”

“Hi, Aradia,” Tavros said weakly.

It was only a moment before Karkat was marching over to join them. “Yeah, hi, I understand that greetings are important to one’s social life, but we’re kind of short for time on this _literal fucking life and death mission_ \-- Tavros, what’s up with you? Why are you on the floor?”

Aradia sighed. “Why can’t we just be civil with each other?”

Vriska clapped her on the back as she looked around the yard. “Since when are friends civil with each other?”

“Since when are we friends?” Aradia muttered.

“Shut up. We’re the best of friends, I don’t know how you could possibly forget it.” Vriska’s eyes finally alighted on Terezi, and her face broke into a smile. The blind girl had her nose barely a foot from the ground, and she appeared to be sniffing intently. She looked fucking ridiculous. 

“Pyrope!” Vriska called. 

Terezi’s head popped up, and she grinned. “Good to hear you’re alive!” she shouted.

Vriska walked over to her, scoffing. “Oh, please. As if anything could ever kill me. Made any progress on that ring?”

“None. It’s got to be here somewhere, but I’ve got no idea where I flung it.”

Vriska snapped her fingers. “Hey, can I steal a metal detector?”

Terezi huffed. “Only if you pay for it first.”

“Okaaaaaaaay, that completely defeats the purpose of stealing, but whatever.” Vriska knelt down next to her. “So, this is how you search? You just sniff everything?”

Terezi pressed her nose to the ground and inhaled. “Pretty much, with the occasional lick.”

“That’s gross.” Vriska wrinkled her nose. “You’re gross.”

“You’ll come to accept my lifestyle eventually.” Terezi sat up and turned her head as if she were looking around. “I’ve combed this whole area. Karkat was off to the left, and Aradia was near the doors. I think Sollux is still stuck in a bush. I don’t know where else there is to look!”

“Like I said, metal detector.”

“I actually think we’re going to need one... “ Terezi’s head tilted slightly to the side. “Hey, do you hear that?”

Vriska started to answer with a “no” when Terezi shushed her. Her eyes narrowed behind their scarlet glasses. 

“Sounds like…” she murmured. Her lips twitched into a frown. “It sounds like you driving, actually.”

Vriska looked over her shoulder. Karkat and Aradia were standing stock still by Vriska’s car, their backs turned to watch as a familiar black car barreled ever closer.

Vriska stood up in a flash. “Get in my car, you fucking idiots!” she shouted.

They needed no more persuasion. Karkat bolted into the driver’s seat, and Aradia took the passenger’s side. Vriska grabbed Terezi’s arm and pulled her across the yard. They slammed into the two middle seats, jumping over Tavros’s shocked form, and shut the doors behind them. “Drive!” Vriska said.

“Wait, what about Sollux?” Terezi cried.

“He’s in a bush, he’ll be fine!” Karkat yelled as the car burst into motion. Vriska looked through the window. The Crew’s vehicle was far too close for comfort. 

“Slick’s driving,” she said tensely. “Can I say ‘road rage?’”

Karkat groaned. “God, he’s a fucking maniac. Fasten your seatbelts, or chances are I’m going to throw you through the windshield.” 

His words were punctuated by an acceleration even higher than Vriska’s standards. 

“I think I’m going to be sick,” Tavros mumbled. “Why, uh, why does everyone I know have such a need for speed?”

“Sollux is currently not present, so I’m going to say this for him,” said Karkat. “But that game fucking sucked.”

“What, uh, game?”

“Need for-- oh my fucking god, nevermind. Stop distracting the driver!” Karkat held the steering wheel in a vice grip, occasionally glancing into the mirror, only to curse under his breath. The cursing increased in volume as the car behind them sped up. “Fuck, fuck, FUCK! Okay. We’re going downtown.”

“Are you crazy?” Terezi shrieked. “You have a _bike!_ You don’t know how to drive like this!”

“So what?”

“Oh, for crying out loud,” Vriska muttered. “Let me fucking do it.” She lunged forward to place her hands on the steering wheel, leaning over the barrier between the two sets of seats. “Scoot over, Vantas.”

Karkat looked at her as if she had sprouted a third eye, but made enough room for her to climb into the driver’s seat beside him.

“You’re all insane,” said Aradia.

“Absolutely, but I’m about to save your ass,” Vriska replied.

“Can someone please put me on a seat?” Tavros asked. 

Terezi’s phone began to ring. Vriska could barely hear it over the roar of the engine. 

“Hello?” Terezi paused. “I know, there was no time!... Really? Then run, dipshit! Get it somewhere safe!... No. Don’t worry about us. Don’t you dare. We’re in the middle of a car chase, Sollux!... That’s true. What are you proposing?... Do you think you could?... Obviously. Hey, Vriska?”

Vriska looked at her. “What is it?”

“Do you think Jack still has the ring on him?”

“Probably. I think he put it in his pocket or something.”

Karkat snorted. “Of course he would. You think he’d trust anyone else to hold it?”

Terezi nodded thoughtfully. “Good.” She focused back on her phone. “Yes, he probably has it. But how would we get close enough to him?... There’s like, no chance of that working. No. No, there really isn’t… You wanna try anyway? ‘Kay. Give us a minute.” She hung up.

“Sollux found the White Queen’s ring, he’s getting it to safety. Karkat, in a few seconds, I need you to stop this car so we can jump out. We’ve got to hit the ground running and get as far as we can before the Crew start coming after us. What we really need to do is lure them out of their car. If we get close, we can incapacitate them and get the Black Queen’s ring from Slick.”

“I see some flaws in this plan,” said Vriska. “First of all, they’ll probably just run us over.”

“Karkat can shoot out their tires.”

Vriska rolled her eyes. “I can tell just by looking at him that his aim isn’t good.”

Tavros spoke up. “And, uh, what about me?”

“See?” Vriska grumbled. “So many contingencies. Somebody can push the paraplegic, but I’m not doing it.”

Aradia glared at her, and began to unfold Tavros’s wheelchair as best she could in the limited space of the back seat. 

“If those are the biggest flaws, this might actually work,” Karkat said, sounding surprised. “Contrary to your idiotic assumptions, Serket, my aim is fucking stellar. Aradia can push Tavros. As for getting run over, we’ll just have to be fast. Tavros, you ready?”

“Uh, as I’ll ever be, I guess?” Tavros said as he climbed into his half-unfolded chair. 

“Good.”

And with that, Karkat slammed on the brakes. There was a squeal of tires and the car stopped in its tracks. He flung the door open, and he and Vriska tumbled out of their shared seat. Terezi was already sprinting away. Aradia fumbled to lift Tavros out of the car, but once they were free, they were quick as a flash in their retreat. 

Vriska glanced over her shoulder as she ran after Terezi. The black car had not stopped. Slick must have been delighted by their flight, as the car pursuing them sped up even faster. 

“You’d better be as good a marksman as you say you are, Vantas!” she yelled. 

Karkat didn’t respond. He swiftly pulled out his pistol, turned around, and stopped running. He raised the gun to eye level and scowled. “You’d better watch out, or maybe I’ll aim between your eyes!”

Vriska saw him pull the trigger. 

The bullet ripped through the air past her, sending a breeze across her skin. It was a sharp blast of air, a ripple in the solidity of space. She didn’t stop to watch its flight. The angry look on Karkat’s face told her enough.

She tore on past him. “Either get it right this time, or keep running, stupid!”

Vriska couldn’t hear his response over the crack of his gun firing once more. This time, it was followed by a screech of metal and rubber. She chanced a look behind her as she ran. The black car had slowed, one of its tires visibly deflating. But it had not stopped. 

Karkat pulled up by her side. “Gotta get ahead before I take out the rest,” he panted. His pupils were dilated with adrenaline. 

Vriska faced forward again. Aradia was doing a fine job carting Tavros away, though Vriska thought she could have done it faster herself. Not that she’d want to. Terezi was in the lead, and she was not looking back. The landscape was beginning to shift from old, crumbling buildings to more modern ones. Vriska could see the faces of passers-by flashing past, their expressions fearful. 

They had to end this fight before it got too intense. A misplaced bullet could end a civilian’s life. Even worse, they might get arrested. The police would probably assume they were rival gangs or something, and if they were detained, the Midnight Crew would get away before Terezi could explain everything.

“Time’s ticking, Vantas!”

“No shit.” Karkat stopped again, raising his gun and firing off three quick shots. The Crew’s car groaned and slowed further. 

Was there an echo? No. Someone in the car was firing back. Vriska ducked, and only very nearly managed to evade being shot. Her legs were beginning to tire. Of course, in the most critical of moments, human physiology had to be a bitch.

She couldn’t keep going like this forever, she knew. But adrenaline would carry her, and until then, she would never give up.

“Run in a zig-zag, you witless, shitting idiot!” Karkat hollered. “Don’t you know anything about gun fights?”

“No, actually,” Vriska shouted back. She meant to follow up with a biting comment, but was too out of breath to think of a good one. She adjusted her path into something more curvy, stumbling as she dodged the bullets now pumping out from the car behind her. 

There was a low groan of metal, and Vriska heard the car cease movement. Footsteps followed. She glanced over her shoulder only to grin. Slick was chasing after her. This would normally be a disaster, and definitely not something to be grinning about, but the plan was working.

Then she noticed the pistol in his hand. 

Vriska’s mind went on autopilot. Her every movement was pure instinct, the physical manifestation of adrenaline and reaction. The bullets came more slowly than they had when the car was running, but they were just as deadly. 

Slick was followed by the other Crew members. They had guns of their own, and each aimed for someone in Vriska’s party. She gave a silent gesture of thanks to whatever twist of fate had placed Terezi furthest from the Crew.

Somewhere in the city, Vriska heard sirens blare. The police were undoubtedly on their way. It was inevitable that some civilian would end up calling them, but this was too soon! They still had to take out Slick and get the ring. 

“Vantas,” Vriska panted. “What do we do now?”

“I don’t fucking know. We could turn off and try to hide somewhere, I guess.”

Vriska looked up. There were several side streets they could duck into, but hiding would do them no good. They’d just--

“Vriska!”

Terezi ran backwards, beckoning Vriska towards her. “C’mere!” Her face was nearly split in half by a toothy smile. Vriska pushed herself harder and made it to her side.

“Do we have a plan?”

“Yes,” Terezi said smugly. “In fact, our ‘plan’ should be arriving in about ten seconds.”

Vriska squinted in confusion. “What? Do you mean the cops?”

“No, not the cops, though they’ll be here soon as well.” Terezi held up a hand. “Just wait.” She brought down a finger with every passing second. “Aaaand… Now.”

There was a long pause. Their puffing for breath was the only sound.

Then came the shot. 

Slick stumbled, then fell. Bullets ripped through the air to bring the other Midnight Crew members to the ground as well. Terezi cackled as Vriska looked on in disbelief.

“Maybe my timing wasn’t exact, but my plan? My plans are _killer!_ ”

They slowed to a stop. Vriska hunched over, propping her hands on her knees as she steadied her breathing. “So, holy shit. How did you do that again?”

“Sollux. Duh. I told him what was happening, he came to the rescue.”

Vriska rolled her eyes. “And here I was thinking you were clever as well as cute.”

Karkat came running up, followed by Aradia with Tavros in tow. “No time for explanations!” he snapped. “We need to get those rings and then abscond the fuck out of here. Those cop cars are getting closer.”

“Yeah, I hear them.” Vriska mustered a jog over to where Slick lay. She reached for his coat, but hesitated. He was still breathing. 

She turned him to face upwards with her foot.

His eyes were open. They narrowed into a scowl as he recognized her face. “What’re ya gonna do?” he growled. “Turn me in?”

He tried to sit up, but fell back to the ground. Vriska could see the blood covering his chest, even through his dark coat. He was alive, but probably wouldn’t be much longer. Shit. What kind of bullets had that lisping nerd even _used_?

Terezi appeared over her shoulder. She looked down at Slick with distaste.

“Take off your jacket. You can use it to try and stem the blood flow.” 

“You think I’m stupid?” Slick snarled. “I’m not tryin’ to. You’ll never take me alive.”

In response, Terezi ripped his coat from his shoulders and pressed it to his chest. “I’m going to make sure you face your crimes if it’s the last thing I ever do,” she muttered. “Vriska, can you do this for the others?”

Vriska shook off her shock. “Uh, sure.” But first… 

She reached into the pocket of Slick’s coat and extracted the Black Queen’s ring, golden and shining. His hand reached for it, but she snatched it away. 

She found Aradia by Diamonds Droog’s side, affixing a makeshift bandage to his wound. Tavros fiddled with his fingernails as he watched. He couldn’t get down to the ground to help. 

Vriska dumped him from his chair next to Hearts Boxcars. “Make yourself useful.” 

Sollux was tending to Clubs Deuce, albeit reluctantly. Vriska helped him finish up before going back to Terezi.

“We need to get out of here,” Terezi said as she stood up. “Like, right now. Are you up for hijacking?”

“I prefer the term ‘joyriding.’” Vriska received a gun from Karkat, then smashed the butt into the window of a nearby car. She reached inside to unlock it and hopped inside. The panel beneath the steering wheel was removed, wires played with, and the car started up. Terezi waved Aradia, Tavros and Sollux inside.

Vriska turned around in the driver’s seat. “What do you say? Should we go and get your friends from the headquarters?”

Tavros gave a halfhearted cheer, and he was joined by the others, until the gesture was a genuine one.

***

“Midnight Crew captured in downtown car chase,” Terezi read aloud. “Hmph. Makes it sound like the police were the ones doing the chasing.”

“The police need to get on our fucking level,” Vriska responded. 

Terezi skimmed through the newspaper article, then set it down on the rock beside her. “It just says that the people responsible for their capture are being tracked down. We’re wanted criminals now.”

“Well, people always want me, but the ‘criminal’ part is new.”

“Is it really?” Terezi smiled. She handed a bottle of water to Vriska, who cracked it open, sipping gratefully. It was a hot day, and the forest air was muggy. The sounds of the waterfall rushing past them provided a serene soundtrack. 

“It’s weird to think that this all started because you wanted to steal Pyralspite,” Terezi said finally. 

Vriska laughed. “I never knew its name. I never knew my stealing was attracting so much attention, either… I guess I should be more careful.”

“You’re going to keep doing it, then?” Terezi sounded a little disappointed, and Vriska sighed.

“I mean… I probably won’t enjoy it as much now. You’ve given me ‘a sense of right and wrong,’” she made finger quotes, “and all that shit. But I can’t just stop. I never really thought about the fact that it’s a real disorder, I guess? I just kind of embraced it. But now… I don’t know. It feels weird.”

Terezi took her hand, and Vriska would be lying if she said her heart didn’t beat a little faster. “We could take you to therapy.”

Vriska made a face. “Ew, no. Never. If I fix this, I fix it on my own.”

“As long as you get to a place where you’re comfortable.” Terezi stroked her thumb across Vriska’s hand. “We still have to sort out all the legal stuff, too. We’re being tracked. It’s only a matter of days before they recognize our faces. Telling our story won’t help, it’ll just get us convicted. We’ve committed so many crimes while doing this, I don’t even know where to start.”

“Maybe we should just run away.”

“Nah, they’d find us eventually.” Terezi went quiet. “I don’t want to run from a sentence. I’m not Spades Slick.”

“Yeah, but the sentence would be unjust,” Vriska argued. “We had a reason to do all that stuff!”

“That doesn’t change the fact that we did it. We put people in danger with that car chase.”

Vriska sighed. “You’re so determined to get in trouble.”

“It’s not that.” Terezi moved almost imperceptibly closer to Vriska, and leaned her head on her shoulder. “I just don’t want to live my life running.”

“That’s what I do.”

Terezi snorted. “Yes, but you lived a very sad life before I came around. Did you even have any friends?”

Vriska frowned. “I had a few.”

“Oh, really? Name them.”

Vriska paused. “Uh…”

“I knew it!”

“No! John is my friend, I’ve got at least one!”

Terezi raised an eyebrow. “Do I have any reason to believe that you didn’t just make that guy up on the spot?”

“I could introduce you to him,” Vriska huffed.

“It’s okay, Vriska. Now that we’ve made friends with Karkat’s circle, you won’t have to rely on imaginary friends anymore!” Terezi sniggered. Vriska shoved her away, then regretted it. The contact had been nice.

“But anyway.” The mood turned sober once more. “We need to figure out a way to get out of this.”

Vriska groaned. “Does it have to be now? Let’s just get Starbucks and forget about all this.”

Terezi paused. “Hmm… Your treat?”

“Ugh. Is that what it’ll take?”

“Yes. Going on a date with you would be a horrible chore, and the only way you could possibly convince me is to make it free.” 

Vriska paused. 

“Wait, what?”

“I said, going on a date with you would be boring and terrible. I would never pay to have such an experience.” Terezi would not make eye contact. Vriska smirked.

“I never said it was going to be a date.”

“Yes, so I said it for you.” Terezi sat up and faced Vriska. “If you’re not going to admit your feelings, I’ll admit mine. God, don’t act like such a teenager.”

“I’m not acting like a teenager!” Vriska protested. “I just wanted to keep it casual.”

“Yeah, right. I’m willing to bet it wasn’t even Pyralspite you wanted. You’ve been silently pining over me for ages.” Terezi wiggled her eyebrows. “So. You’ve got feelings for me, then?”

“Uh, maybe.” Vriska cursed her faulty wording. Where was the Serket sass when she needed it? “I mean, I’ve been flirting with you for a while now, so you can interpret that however you like.”

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes.’” Terezi was smiling, and her face was suddenly much closer than it had been before. “Me too.”

Vriska laughed. “You’ve got feelings for yourself?”

“Obviously. I’m hot!” Terezi giggled. “You’re hot too, though. Almost as hot as me.”

“How do you know I’m hot? You can’t see!” 

“That doesn’t change the fact that you’re hot and I want to go on a date with you.” 

And then she was closing the gap between them, and their lips met, and holy shit. Terezi was a _really_ good kisser. Vriska really should have seen that coming. The girl used her tongue enough on inanimate objects, when combined with her lips, it was lethal. 

The kiss was not gentle, but not rough. It was somewhere in between. A rhythm became apparent in the movement of their lips, and Vriska hardly even realized her need to breathe. She was lost in the feeling of her hand’s in Terezi’s hair, cursing the fact that they both wore glasses, kissing her, kissing Terezi Pyrope for as long as she possibly could. 

Vriska only broke away when her lungs started to burn. She was panting slightly as she drew a hand across her mouth. Terezi, she was satisfied to see, was blushing bright red. “Remind me why we didn’t do this before?”

“Because you were acting like a dumb teenager.” Terezi laced her fingers through Vriska’s and planted a kiss on her cheek. “Coffee?”

“Of course.”

The two stood up, hand in hand, and walked through the forest. A gentle breeze blew across their faces, still flushed red. They were the picture of an affection newly realized. A touch of tension, a note of heat. A trace of anticipation. The world had much in store for them.

It was up to them to rise to the challenge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 8 chapters for the Vriska fic, hell yes.
> 
> And so, the thief's tale has come to an end. She would later define her relationship with Terezi to anyone who would listen as "partners in crime." They would have many a court battle, but come out all right. Terezi would in no means cease her vigilante practices. With all her new friends to help, she would come to be known throughout the city, and eventually become an official private eye. 
> 
> The thief would go to therapy and become less of a thief (though she wouldn't be opposed to stealing free gifts for her partner in crime). She would get a steady job and move into Terezi's horrendously decorated house. They would have frequent guests and would never run out of scent jars. Terezi would begin to favor the scent of blueberry over that of cherry.
> 
> So ends the tale of Vriska Serket, the thief of Terezi Pyrope's heart.


End file.
